A Home Once Lost
by Team Dragon Star
Summary: Kidnapped when he was still a child, Gohan is sent back to the world he never knew and meets the family he never knew he had. Will this alter his alliance with Frieza's army and why does a weak human female intrigue him so?
1. Chapter 1

**Razamataz22 here, making his first post with a sense of nostalgia behind it. What better way to start a new path then the exact same way it started last time? Although it has been edited and improved slightly, let's hope it sees its way through to the end.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ.**

**...**

Each day for the past 13 years he had grown stronger and stronger under the guide of the Saiyans. Every morning the three Saiyans woke to find him in the gravity chamber pushing his body to the limit, trying to live up to his mentors' expectations. They no longer saw the little boy they had kidnapped when he was only four years old, they saw a true warrior. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones noticing.

Vegeta arose from his bed, several distinct cracks were heard as he stretched, his tail finding its way around his waist. After putting on his usual attire, ensuring that his hair stood the way that it usually did, he made his way into the living room of the house. Over the past decade, the Saiyans had quickly risen in rank and strength with the boy's inclusion and thus had been given their own private residence with training grounds provided. He found Nappa and Raditz eating breakfast whilst sharing jokes with one another while the familiar sound of the boy training pounded through the walls. After a few messy years, the Saiyans had grown to like the boy they stole and had made part of the "family."

"When was the last time anybody checked his power level?" Vegeta asked with a grunt, already knowing that the answer was beyond knowledge. "Last I heard it was only nine thousand."

"You might be thinking about when he started fighting alongside us, I couldn't get a scouter to read his power level two years ago so I have no idea," answered Nappa, the light from the roof reflecting off of the top of his head. No scouter had been able to keep track of any of their ratings; no form of technology had the power to withstand the force the Saiyans emitted.

"It can't be too high," said Raditz, his gravity defining hair sticking straight up before flowing halfway down his back. "Every time he comes out of his training we spar with him and defeat him every time. He had a better chance when he didn't train before breakfast."

"Does anybody know what gravity he has been training at?" Vegeta asked the group.

"Well I train at one hundred and twenty times this planet, funny since this planet and his home have equal amounts of gravity, and he trains at ninety," Nappa said pointing at Raditz. "I get tired after about two hours so the kid must be working at about sixty, maybe even seventy."

"No wonder he's fatigued when he's facing us," said Vegeta finding the answer suitable. He trained at one hundred and fifty times gravity so what should he worry about. It would be simple to check the data but he didn't really care to be honest, so long as he was trying to make himself steadily stronger.

"Do you reckon that last solo mission got to him?" asked Nappa, a serious expression spread across his face.

"In what way?" retorted Raditz, curious to know what Vegeta's bodyguard had to say.

"Well, when he got back two months ago he has been doing his training ever since. Maybe something irritated him," explained Nappa.

"Well he completed the job and came back unscratched, although it was a fairly easy mission. Maybe he wants a challenge," said Vegeta, knowing that those would have been his thoughts had he been in the kid's shoes.

"Perhaps," concluded Raditz. He briefly recalled the day 13 years earlier when he had taken the child from Kakarot. He knew when he lifted off that Kakarot was still alive and that this would be his eternal punishment for being so pitifully weak. As years went past he became the father figure and cared for the boy as if he were his own son. Vegeta and Nappa hated to admit it but they too cared for the boy dearly. There had been talk about returning to where Kakkarot was, to see whether or not he was strong enough to join their forces but due to frequent missions it was always pushed to the side.

The sound of the boy training continued as there was a loud knock on the door.

"It's open," shouted Nappa before whispering to his comrades, "Is anybody expecting anyone?" Both Saiyans shook their heads as the door opened to reveal three people standing in the doorway. In rapid succession, all three Saiyans dropped to their knees and bowed.

"You honour us with your presence Lord Freiza," said Vegeta showing his respect, or the false respect that he was forced to show in order to protect his life. Vegeta truly would have loved nothing more than to punch a hole straight through Frieza's head and become a free man but he feared he wasn't strong enough.

Frieza walked forward, Zarbon and Dodoria by his sides. "Where is the boy?" said Zarbon speaking for Frieza who was in his first form. He would have been floating in his usual transport however it had needed maintenance in order for it to be in perfect working order.

"He is just finishing his morning training in the gravity chamber," stated Vegeta, curious to why the self proclaimed ruler of the galaxy had interest in a teenage Saiyan.

"Lead on," said Zarbon with a flick of his hand. Standing upright, the Saiyans led the way to where the gravity chamber lay. As they reached it, they turned and watched through the Perspex screen to saw the boy training at incredible speeds which could hardly be seen in their weakened states (having found out many years ago how to hide their true strength). What were once giant robots now lay in pieces of scrap metal. Blood dripped down his arm where it hung numbly by his side. With his free hand he successfully fended off several attacks from robots thrice his size.

Vegeta pressed a button and the simulation came to an end. The pieces of metal disintegrated into pure matter and seeped into the floor. "Gohan," Vegeta shouted. With cold eyes, Gohan's head turned to look to where the group stood, a trail of blood seeping over his right eye. "You have visitors," Vegeta concluded, a scowl spread across his face.

Gohan stood silently for a moment in the centre of the gravity chamber, several deep gashes were bleeding from his chest and back but they didn't faze him in the slightest. "Switch the training back on Vegeta, I'm not finished yet," commanded Gohan, his voice booming with power. Frieza's eyes tinted slightly, not used to being ignored in such fashion.

"I like a little spunk in them," said Zarbon licking his lips while brushing a lock of green hair behind his ear.

"Bring him to me Zarbon," commanded Frieza in his cold voice, his eyes focused directly at the boy in the room.

Zarbon bowed, "As you command Lord Frieza." Smiling valiantly, Zarbon opened the door to the chamber, causing the gravity to briefly return to normal. He closed the door and the gravity started to build again. Zarbon walked forward with a purpose but as the gravity rose to what it had been, he found himself struggling to move.

Zarbon walked slowly, struggling to keep himself from collapsing entirely. "What gravity is the boy training at?" Dodoria asked quizzically.

"We believe the kid trains at approximately sixty times the gravity of this planet," answered Nappa.

"Zarbon isn't fazed by a hundred times gravity," said Frieza pressing a few buttons on the central control pad. A screen appeared on the window showing the gravity that Gohan had been training at over the past two months. He wasn't interested in the fact that four months ago he had started at sixty times gravity but was quivering as he saw how quickly he had improved. The Saiyans saw these numbers and were astounded as well. Gohan was training at two hundred and forty times gravity without it having a major effect on his body. He had been training at that level for several days now, for longer periods of time daily.

They watched in horror as Gohan slowly walked towards Zarbon, cold hate in his eyes. Dodoria rushed to the door and opened it, causing the gravity to return to normal. Zarbon breathed deeply as mobility returned to his body. Gohan walked past him but Zarbon appeared in front of him with lightning speed. With a vicious right hook he connected with Gohan's cheek, causing his head to snap violently, the green alien feeling cheated. Zarbon smiled, until his face turned to one of pure horror as Gohan's head turned slowly, not a single trace that he had been hit marking his face; cold eyes seemed to peer right into Zarbon's soul. "Do you mind?" he said menacingly, venom dripping from his lips. Zarbon stepped out of his way as Gohan walked out of the room towards Frieza.

"You summoned me," Gohan stated with hatred in his eyes, irritated by the fact his training had been cut short.

Frieza composed himself, the boy seemed to show no fear towards the strongest creature in the galaxy. "Due to your recent success I am sending you on a break," he explained.

"A break?" said Gohan confused, yet the tone of voice he had used made it sound like he didn't deserve it.

"Yes, we are sending you to a small planet called Earth for a recon mission, something a little different." The Saiyans became stiff as they heard Earth except for Gohan who matched Frieza's vicious stare. "Think of it as a brief time off period, I want you to find out everything there is to know about this planet to see what it is worth but keep the people alive, do not be the one to make the first move. You will dress like them, talk like them and eventually blend in with a crowd."

"I understand," said Gohan bowing his head, only because he knew he had to, not out of respect.

"Good, you're pod leaves at 0800 hours," said Frieza as he and his henchmen turned towards the exit, marching in sync they left, the door closing behind them.

Gohan lifted his head and saw the other Saiyans staring at him. A minute passed before the Saiyans looked away in disbelief, Raditz snickering on his way to the living room. "Can you get me all the data you can about Earth?" Gohan asked of Raditz.

"I can tell you a bit more then what'll you'll find in the system," said Raditz beckoning Gohan to sit with him as he placed himself on the couch. Gohan, however, remained standing as he looked down at Raditz. "Suit yourself," said Raditz with a shrug of the shoulders. "Earth, is the planet which you were born on, you are a half-breed, part Saiyan part Human." This news came as a shock to Gohan but he regained his composure quickly so that only those with extreme eyesight could have picked up the sense of.

"So there is a Saiyan on Earth," Gohan asked, figuring that part out himself.

"Yes, your father. This trip may be to try and entice him to join us but there may be other reasons behind it. Don't bother searching every strip of the planet for him; it's just too big with really rough terrain. Go to the nearest city but don't let people see you flying; it doesn't send a good image. We will get you some Earth clothes to wear, there's likely to be some money in the pod, and try not to let people see your tail."

"It's not my fault if people see it and I know well enough not to look at the full moon if I'm meant to blend in," said Gohan, irked that his uncle would think he would be that stupid.

"You've learnt well. Since it is a recon don't go kill anyone and if possible don't show anyone your true power. Now, let's chuck you in a recovery capsule so you're ready for your flight tomorrow morning." With that Raditz and Gohan walked out the door and flew off towards the nearest hospital.

...

"Why did you stray from the plan to have him join us on your mission?" Dodoria asked as they walked down the path towards the city.

"Because the brat is a loose cannon, you saw the way he looked at me," he said looking at the Saiyans flying overhead. "His strength was great enough to match my first two forms, possibly even my third. He has the power to wipe out my entire army and do sustainable damage to me in the process. We need a bargaining chip with him, something to control him, and what better way than by letting him to get acquainted with his mother and father. Then we can use them as threats if he chooses to rebel against us."

"Excellent plan Lord Frieza," admired Zarbon. "But I think Dodoria and I can handle him on our own and he will no longer be any problem to us. Once I have the chance to power up I can take him out without trying."

"No," said Frieza, "I will not risk it; I need you alive in six months time when we travel to Namek to find the dragon balls. With Gohan out of the way and the Ginyu Force joining us we should have no problem." They all laughed in agreement as they blasted off, flying through the air towards Frieza's palace.

...

**Fond memories. Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello girls and boys who read our stuff, this is DevilsDoCry taking the reigns for Chapter 2 of A Home Once Lost with a friendly reminder that this fic will have coarse language.  
>Disclaimer: We do not own DBZ, but we might one day... until then all events, character and rights all belong to Toriyama.<br>**

...

The Saiyans were sat in their apartment contemplating what had just occurred, after so many years they would soon be returning to Earth, this did not bother them. It was Frieza's choice of sending Gohan alone back to his home planet, even though it was supposedly a reconnaissance mission there seemed to be a dual reason for sending Gohan back. It was a thought shared by each one of the elder Saiyans.

"Well young one, if they're sending you back home, you need to know some things about the planet don't you, it would be reckless to send you in blind," announced Raditz, rising from his slouched position on the sofa. Ushering Gohan to follow him, he led Gohan to the apartment's computer terminal.

The elder Saiyan pressed a few buttons causing the terminal to burst into life. "Ok by the looks of things, they've programmed your pods landing protocols to land in a mountain region just outside of somewhere called west city," said Raditz scrolling through the mission itinerary. "Looks like you lucked out as well kid, Frieza only wants a sample recon, looks like it's going to be a shorter trip than we initially thought, it says in the documents that the lab guys want to see their technological capabilities, also a request from Zarbon came asking if you could see what level of military strength they have to offer."

"Fuck Zarbon if the blue freak can't handle a bunch of Earthlings, then he shouldn't be head of Frieza's army, come to think of it why is he even the head of the army?" asked Gohan with a quizzical look on his face.

"Even though we are far superior, we are still lower in rank so it isn't our place to ask. Don't worry my nephew, your time will come when you get to test the blue weakling, and when that time comes, so will that of the Saiyans, but for now we must wait and do the bidding of that lizard. Speaking of which its nearly time for your departure, quickly get changed into those earthling clothes that Frieza left for you," said Raditz with a tone of urgency in his voice.

...

Gohan was at full sprint, it had taken him more time to prepare than expected and the other Saiyans had left for the take off bay already. However after the years of training with Vegeta, he was soon there in no time.

"Well, well, well Vegeta, doesn't Gohan look sharp in those earthling clothes? If it weren't for the tail and haircut I would hardly recognise him!" came the voice of Nappa followed by a hearty chuckle.

Gohan hadn't bothered dressing into his Saiyan armour, instead he had decided on a black tank top and a pair of jeans, which he could loop his tail around his waist and get away with it being a belt.

"Yeah you laugh it off Nappa, you're going to have to do the same thing soon, and I don't think they do fat-ass in Earth sizes," came back the stinging reply of Gohan, years of living with Vegeta had made his mind and mouth a deadly weapon on a level comparable with his fists.

Nappa was never the brightest of fellows, nor one to take a joke, and was just about to hurl a ki ball at Gohan until Vegeta interjected. "Break it off the pair of you, Nappa cool it we don't need to draw any more attention to ourselves, Gohan you too and remember, when you're on earth don't blow anything up. Not just because it's your orders, but because blowing things up is my job," said Vegeta with a smirk.

During this exchange, a few members of the engineering crew had brought Gohan's pod to the take off point. As Gohan clambered inside the on board computer sprang to life. "Pod lift off sequence initialised, state name, rank and destination" came the computerized voice.

"Gohan, Sergeant First Class, Earth, Western Mountain Range of West City," said the young Hybrid clearly having once experienced what a simple mistake like mispronouncing one's destination could do.

"Destination confirmed, estimated time of arrival 14 days, do you wish for the sedative to be administered?" asked the computer.

"No, I don't want any drugs to be floating around in my system," replied Gohan with a stern voice, Vegeta had once explained to him that it was easy for Saiyans to become addicted to certain substances.

In a roar of sound and metallic clanking the pods engines soon kicked in, normally this would make any other race be pinned to the seat in discomfort from the amount of G-force exerted on them, but for Gohan it had no effect on him. Instead he found himself fiddling with the pods on board computer, trying in vain to find some form of entertainment, after a while he found that chess was the only game available. He sighed as he switched the difficulty to the highest rating ad began to press the touch screen monitor.

...

After a stint of 2 weeks inside the pod, Gohan had racked up a total of 6,578 victories and 0 losses, Gohan smiled at his accomplishment it felt good to be on the winning side of a chess match for a change. Every day since he had been taken, Vegeta would have a match with him to test how strategically sound his mind was, in 13 years Gohan had only bested Vegeta on 3 occasions, this was only after employing erratic and risky manoeuvres which Gohan would never normally try. While ruthless at times, he had to admit that Vegeta had one of the most cunning minds imaginable.

"Pod outer velocity increasing by 10%, external heat rising by 30%, prepare for atmospheric breach," announced the mechanic voice of the computer.

The exterior of the pod was burning bright like a falling star, the noise that erupted when it made its way eventually through the atmosphere was like being in the middle of a thunder cloud. As soon as the noise had started it had soon stopped, but the feeling of falling was increasing drastically, the whistling noise of the wind whipping behind the pod was almost unbearable for Gohan's super sensitive hearing.

"Landing zone acquired, brace for impact."

The pod hit the mountains with an earth shattering crash, chunks of rubble and debris were scattered everywhere. Smoke was billowing from where the machine had impacted the ground; however Gohan stepped out of the wreck unfazed, lightly brushing off his clothes.

"Why didn't the boosters deploy? Something isn't right, but that can wait... I have a mission to do," muttered Gohan under his breath as he scanned the horizons, part of him hoping that his pod was still operational. Looking through his scouter, Gohan could see the sprawling metropolis that was west city; there wasn't an inch of it that wasn't covered by steel or glass. The only sign of any kind of plant life was a huge park in the centre of the city.

"Feh what a pitiful race, some races are dying of because of a lack of plant life, and here these fools are digging it up and replacing it with useless towers of steel and glass," said Gohan in a begrudging tone. "To think I was born on this planet of fools..."

As Gohan was pondering this a jet emblazoned with west city emergency response on it was making its way to Gohan's position, instead of flying away from the scene, Gohan proceeded at a leisurely pace down one of the many winding mountain paths, letting his instincts guide him to where he would need to be.

As Gohan walked he would catch glimpses of places that seemed familiar to him, memories long forgotten were coming to the surface of Gohan's mind. It was easy to resist at first but when he strolled by a lake, a particularly strong memory came to his mind.

_Gohan was incredibly close to the ground yet he was standing on two legs, he must've only been 2 years old. A man with wild gravity defying hair was lying on his back in the middle of the lake signalling for Gohan to come in. As he made his way to the edge of the lake he noticed an extremely dainty woman on the lakes edge, her porcelain features were full of joy and a smile decorated her face, for some reason her features seemed incredibly familiar.  
><em>  
>"No Gohan you have a mission to do, come on focus, remember what Vegeta told you, emotions are weakness and the weak are the first to die," said Gohan chastising himself for his momentary weakness. For the rest of his walk Gohan stayed in stoic solitude not wanting to remember anything of his old life.<p>

...

Upon his arrival in west city Gohan immediately realised 3 things about the human race, half of them were nothing but clueless buffoons going about their petty little lives, they were physically inferior to most of Frieza's slave races, and finally they were technologically inferior as well. What should've been a month long trip had taken Gohan no less than 5 minutes to complete.

"Well it can't hurt to investigate the rest of this planet, but if I can't fly I need some form of transport, hell if I can't blow something up I can at least steal something," muttered Gohan. Spotting the huge highway that towered around most of the city, Gohan thought that it would be the perfect place to look for a suitable vehicle, after Gohan had slipped into a nearby alleyway and making sure he wasn't being watched, he gently floated up to the top of the highway.

After quickly observing on his scouter which would make the perfect vehicle he finally decided on a bright red sports car that was just coming into his view, just before it flew past him Gohan stood directly in front of it, the car swerved to avoid hitting Gohan and soon ended up in the crash barrier. "Hey buddy, what's your damn problem that's my brand new car" came a voice from above Gohan. It came from a scar faced man floating in the air above him; in his arms was a blue haired woman with an equally venomous look. For some reason she seemed familiar but he paid it no attention.

"Well I was going to steal it, but some damn fool had to put it in the barrier didn't they," snapped back Gohan with a sarcastic grin causing the woman to grunt in anger.

"Ok that's it, I'm going to teach you a lesson you won't soon forget, you punk!" came the enraged voice of the man as he descended to the ground, lightly placing the blue haired woman to his side.

"Yamcha stop, have you forgotten how strong you are compared to normal people?" asked the blue haired woman as a scowl crossed her face.

"Don't worry Bulma baby, I'll go easy on him," said Yamcha, flashing her a grin before eyeing off Gohan. Neither of them were expecting the raucous laughter that came from Gohan; the young half Saiyan just couldn't contain himself.

"Oh you're going to teach me a lesson, oh that's funny, you should be a comedian. I've got to hand it to Earthlings, they're damn funny," said Gohan wiping a tear of joy form the corner of his eye.

"Oh so you think I'm funny, do you? Well take this!" screamed Yamcha as he leapt at Gohan, catching him off guard. "Wolf Fang Fist!"

The move was untraceable to the human eye, and several blows rained across Gohan's body, knocking him back across the ground, away from the highway. His feet skidded through the dirt, causing a slight trail to form. "Had enough?" questioned Yamcha, his chest puffed out as if he were superior. The next comment however caught him entirely off guard.

"Pathetic, I'll show you how it's done," said Gohan, and within a flash he had implanted his fist in Yamcha's stomach, causing bile and spit to escape the scarred man's mouth. The blow knocked the man soaring through the air, away from the screaming blue haired girl and towards the mountains. Gohan followed up, flying directly parallel with Yamcha before driving his foot into the man's skull and consequently into the rocks below. The man was screaming in pain as blood flowed freely from his nose and he clutched it with both hands. Gohan breathed in serenely, admiring the yells from the man as if they were a symphony of joyous music. As much as it pained him, he was about to deliver the final blow when his scouter went off, alerting him of another's presence behind him.

Gohan turned around to see a man standing there in a familiar orange warrior's outfit and gravity defying black hair. "Hmm, just like cockroaches these Earthlings come out of every nook and cranny when you just want to get rid of the little bleeders. Oh well, looks like I might have to break orders," sighed Gohan choosing to ignore the bleeding man at his feet.

In a flash Gohan had advanced on the man at break neck speed, ready to deliver a killing blow to the man's neck. Suddenly, Gohan gasped out in pain as he felt a vice-like grip grab his hand, the numbers on his scouter beginning to rapidly rise. "What's going on?" said Gohan in confusion before the scouter exploded in his face, falling to rubble on the ground.

Gohan wished to say that the burst scouter was due simply to faulty mechanics, but he could feel the sheer _power_ radiating from this man. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before, even Frieza didn't openly _bleed_ power like the man before him was doing. Never one to allow himself to be distracted, Gohan charged a ball of Ki with his spare hand and pointed it directly at the man's head. Seconds later, without so much as a warning, Gohan unleashed the devastating blast upon the man from point-blank range.

In the midst of it all, Gohan felt the grip on his arm loosen and he was able to leap free out of the resounding smoke cloud. Any smile which had covered his face was gone as the smoke dispersed in an instant, revealing the man unscathed but his features changed. The black eyes and hair he had once had had been replaced. Blue eyes and golden strands of hair now adorned the man's head as the rocks surrounding him floated around him as if performing a ceremony.

Gohan could only react to the scene in a Vegeta-like manner, "What the fuck is going on?"

...

**Who is this man and what is this mysterious transformation he accomplished? How is he able to do such a thing? Please Review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yo, Razamataz22 here giving you your healthy dose of A Home Once Lost on behalf of Team Dragon Star.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own DBZ.**

Gohan seethed with anger, had Frieza actually detected a strong individual on the planet? He knew of several species ability to transform, he even had the knowledge from Vegeta about how Frieza had several transformations of his own, each more powerful than the last. While he didn't really care about the power, he did pray that they made him look more manly than his usual form. The transformation he had just witnessed was one he had never heard of, especially since most humans, according to the data Raditz had given him, had next to no power at all.

"Alright hot shot, let's see what you can do," said Gohan, trying to sound like he still had control of the situation. When he found a fist buried in his stomach without so much as having seen the attacker move he instantly knew he was outclassed. He hadn't felt this scared since he had been taken on his first purge.

As Gohan was sent soaring through the air, memories of his life kept flashing before him. Days where rivers had run red with the blood of enemies he had spilt. His first meeting with Frieza had given him a hundred lashes when he had questioned whether or not Frieza was a man or a woman. But it had been his last job which had pushed him over the edge.

Frieza had ordered him on a solo mission, one which had sent him to a far corner of the galaxy. He was brought back to reality as he slammed into the side of a mountain, only to look up to see a fist flying towards him. Only out of instinct did he fly to the side, the fist missing by inches but causing the rock surface to crumble under the sheer force. Before Gohan had anytime to mount a counter attack he found his chin knocked upwards as the assailant delivered a kick to the bottom of his head. Once again before he could react the wind was knocked out of him when he was hit with a fierce elbow. His limp arm was grasped in a firm grip as Gohan was tossed through the air, his body burying through the mountain side head first only to crash out the other side and form a crater on the ground.

Gohan coughed with a raspy breath, blood escaping through his lips. He was brought back to his memories about the planet he had been sent to. Not a single inhabitant of the planet had been a fighter, they had treated him like some sort of God when he flew in from the sky. Acting on his orders, he obliterated each one of them. It wasn't like how that Yamcha guy from earlier had suffered at his feet, that man had actually fought back. No, these people didn't even try to engage him. All they did was run and try to save the lives of themselves or their children. Per orders, none had survived. That had been the first time since he had taken his first life when his stomach had been expelled.

Gohan peered through half closed eyes, the sun blinding him slightly. He felt as weak as those people had, but he had vowed to change it. When he had returned he had trained every hour he wasn't sleeping or eating. He no longer wanted to fight for Frieza, he wanted to fight Frieza and end his tyrannical reign. He remembered the stories the other Saiyans had told him about the Legendary Super Saiyan, a person so powerful that he was rumoured to be invincible. He chuckled lightly at the thought that maybe all he had been doing was chasing a dream.

"Some fucking dream," he muttered before a foot came crashing down on top of his face, no longer having the energy to move he took the full brunt. A spider web of cracks radiated from the crater, the plain looking like it was a jigsaw puzzle that didn't fit. Gohan could tell that his nose had been broken, if not shattered under the blow. If he was lucky it would be able to be fixed, provided he got off the planet alive.

His eyes flashed open as he realised what he had just thought and felt like he was worthless if anything, something he had sworn to change. The man leapt off and flew a few metres into the sky, looking down at his opponent. Gohan, with some broken remnants of his energy, charged a very specific ball of energy in his hands and tossed it upwards, avoiding the man completely.

"Even when on the verge of death, you still continue to fight," said the man, emotion stripped from his voice. Except Gohan recognised that voice, it was the one he heard from time to time in his dreams but gone was the kindness which had come with it. He could think no more as his heart rate accelerated and his eyes became feral.

"You will suffer by my hands!" shouted the man, charging down with his fist reared back. With a shout of anger, he threw the appendage at the broken man, only for it to be caught. The man shuddered slightly as the gaze the young man gave him was wrought with pain and anger.

A beastly howl could be heard from miles away.

...

"It's weird," said Nappa as he fiddled with his scouter.

"What's weird?" asked Raditz, only asking to keep Nappa happy.

"Well I just tried to contact Gohan over this thing but all I get is static," explained Nappa.

"The boy's probably got it off or something like that, he's trying to blend in with the crowd so if he wears something like that it will stand out," said Vegeta having listened in.

"Good thinking Vegeta," said Nappa causing Vegeta to moan slightly. He could only put up with Nappa's childish blabbering for so long before he would twitch. It would be a slow spiral into temporary madness from there.

"Oi, I'm picking something up," said Nappa as he tweaked his scouter settings slightly. He listened intently for a minute, his eyes slowly starting to widen in shock.

"What is it?" asked Raditz seeing the worrying look on his companions face.

"We've got to get out of here," said Nappa quickly.

"What the devil are you talking about," snapped Vegeta.

"I just heard orders," said Nappa, beads of sweat forming on his head.

"What orders!" Vegeta all but shouted.

"The orders for our extermination," said Nappa coldly.

"Who issued them?" asked Raditz, worry appearing on his face.

"Frieza did," explained Nappa causing Vegeta to grunt in anger.

"That son of a bitch, we've got to get out of here," ordered Vegeta. "We can't take him head on like we are."

"So where are we going?" asked Raditz looking out the window for any possible threats.

"We're going to pay the brat an unwanted visit."

...

**I'd like to finish writing the fight scene myself but I'll let another member have some of the fun. I know it's also a short chapter and for that I'm sorry, but I don't want to leave the rest of the team out of this.**

**Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**This is DevilsDoCry yet again writing for TeamDragonStar, so as Raz has let me out of the box he keeps me in to write, we should get right into Chapter 4 of A Home Once Lost.**

**Disclaimer: Neither I nor TeamDragonStar own the rights to Dragon Ball Z, but if you want to donate to the Toriyama Bribery Fund, there is a link somewhere.**

..

The moon was shining brightly in the sky over west city, for most it was a spectacular sight and an omen of good fortune for the many couples who were wandering around West City, due to the fact the moon could be seen in the middle of the day. But for Goku, it was a realisation of something more than just a horrific transformation.

As Gohan went through his transformation, he repeated over and over again the mantra that Vegeta had taught him to keep him sane. '_I am not a beast ruled by instinct, I am a Saiyan ruled by my sole desire for power, I will cause destruction with the knowledge that I alone caused it, and not some animalistic instinct.'_

Vegeta had explained years before that all Saiyans had access to a transformation of monumental power that increased their strength by tenfold. The mighty Oozaru, better known as the Great Ape among Frieza's troops. This transformation alone was what caught Frieza's attention in the first place. Instead of wasting an entire battalion on purges, he could send in a team of three Saiyans on a full moon and get the same result.

However there was one flaw to this powerful transformation, if the Saiyan attempting the transformation did not have proper control, then instead of becoming a formidable weapon, they would become nothing more than a feral beast that would kill their comrades and not even realise it until the transformation wore off.

As Gohan features gradually changed from their normal sharp angular shape to the more beast like snout of the Oozaru, all Goku could do was look in fear and awe of what he was witnessing. This person who mere moments ago was lying almost lifeless in a crater of Goku's own creation, now stood tall. Gohan's body had almost completely doubled in size and was starting to be surrounded by jet black fur, but instead of the beast like growl that Goku was expecting, there came the much deeper voice of the man.

"Hah have you finally realised you're facing your end Earthling? It takes more than a change of hair colour to best a Saiyan elite," came the much deeper voice of Gohan's Oozaru form.

All Goku could do was look in terror, a million and one theories were racing through his mind simply from the word Saiyan - a word which had plagued his nightmares until this day._ 'Saiyan! Like me and my brother, why on Earth could he be doing here?' _Goku didn't have much more time to think, the huge ape had planted it gargantuan sized fist into the concrete, causing a shockwave that made Goku stumble through the air.

Gohan noticed the multitude of cars still flying past on the nearby highway, he picked one at random, that just so happened to contain a family,_ 'Let's see if I can test him_,' with that Gohan threw the car with all his might at Goku. As Goku went to intercept the car, Gohan flung his huge form at him, managing to tackle him off of the highway and through an apartment complex next to it. The car flew through the air until it was caught by a small man flying through the air.

The pair of them crashed into the ground below causing a crater to erupt out of the pavement, with Goku pinned underneath the sheer weight of Gohan, Gohan set to work pounding the man's body into the ground. Goku wasn't expecting the sheer amount of pain he was being subjected to, each blow made his body burn and his bones cry out for it to cease. Blood was cascading freely from Goku's mouth and the various puncture points where the bone had broken through the skin.

Gohan was astounded at the man's resilience,_ 'Why won't he die?' _In response to this Gohan quickened his blows oblivious to the bald headed man powering up an attack behind him.

"What have you Saiyan bastards done with my son!" screamed Goku, asking the question that had been running through his mind since the word had been mentioned, as he used his last reserves of strength, his fist extending upwards and catching the giant fist which had propelled towards him.

"Your son?" bellowed Gohan, shocked by both the fact the man had caught his hand and the fact he had a son taken by Saiyans.

"Destructo Disk!" the bald man behind him screamed, taking advantage of Gohan's momentary state of distraction to project the rounded attack at his behind.

The pure amount of shock caused Gohan's body to lock up, his tail, his heritage, and his ability to tap into the monumental power he was wielding had been cut off. Gohan felt bile rise to the back of his throat, as his sudden shrinking and the shock from having his tail cut off made him pass out on top of his victim.

"Get off of him scum!" shouted Krillin as he noticed their little intruder squash his friend. "Hey Goku, you okay buddy? Hang in there, help's on the way!"

Gohan was fading in and out of conscienceless, he saw the bald headed man rush over to the one who just seconds ago was receiving a pounding , he heard the name Goku,_ 'Wait, no.. it can't be!'_ Gohan finally fell completely unconscious as the bald headed one was stood above him aiming a beam of Ki at his heart.

"_No Krillin wait, don't kill him... I think, I think he could be Gohan," _said Goku using his mind, too weak and battered to talk.

"_No way Goku, you're delirious! You honestly expect the Saiyans, of all races, to take him in as one of their own and train him to be a warrior as well? I've seen how powerful he is, if he held any memory for you or this planet, he would've used that power to come back to you. I'm sorry buddy, but this isn't Gohan,"_ replied Krillin.

"_Please Krillin, we have to at least give it a chance, take him back to my house on Mount Paozu. We have a bed spare, and even if he isn't my son... we can still question him as to why the Saiyans are back on Earth."_

"_Okay, but first were going to have to wait on Yajirobe and those senzu beans, you're way too messed up to do anything right now."_

...

**At Mount Paozu**

...

"Ouch, why does my head hurt so damn much? Wait, what the hell?" asked Gohan awaking from a painful slumber and taking in his surroundings as he held his head.

He had awoken to an environment that was completely alien to him, the walls of the room were sickly beige and the bed he was in looked like it hadn't been slept in for many years prior._ 'Wait where the hell are my clothes?'_ Gohan had only just noticed that he was completely naked, fortunately for him there was a set of clothes that resembled a purple gi set out on the table next to his bed.

The scent of bacon was wafting through the gap underneath the door, even though Gohan's urge was to run to the scent and ravage the meat, there was the more pressing matter of his own scent to attend to. '_God!, that fight with that stranger must have worked up more of a sweat than I thought... I reek.'_

Thankfully there was a small bathroom adjoined to the room he was occupying. Gohan spent a long time washing, it had been a while since anyone had caused him scars, and he was discovering more and more as he washed, until he touched the place where his tail was supposed to be.

_'Fuck that's right, my tail! I'm going to make that human pay for taking it away from me.' _As Gohan stepped out of the shower he used his Ki to dry himself off, looking around the room some more he began to notice things that were somehow familiar to him. The room was still alien, but there was an undetectable air of nostalgia about it that made Gohan feel rather uncomfortable. It was a rather empty room, some bits clearly hadn't been touched in years, but the bed seemed to have been recently dusted. It wasn't until his curiosity got the better of him that he picked one of the many books of the shelf, as he flipped to the front page he noticed a small inscription on the top right corner.

_Property of Son Gohan, Age 3._

Gohan's eyes widened suddenly, as he became more aware of the sudden thumping of his heart within his chest. The world seemed to freeze for just a moment as he just stood there, slack-jawed, reading the line over and over again. The queasy feeling in his stomach intensified as the memories came flooding back into his head.

The days at the lake when he was only a few years old, walking merrily through the woods with his father, picking berries with the giant of a man that was his grandfather. It was all too much for Gohan, he dropped slowly to his knees sobbing, the influx of memories overwhelming him. Goku must have sensed his ki fluctuate, because he was through the door in seconds, ready to combat the Saiyan. But what greeted him he did not expect, this warrior, this beast who only yesterday had caused so much pain was know on the floor crying as if his life depended on it, years of pain were escaping the young man's eyes as he raised his face to meet Goku's.

"I'm so sorry father," was all Gohan could utter.

...

**Frieza Planet 217**

...

"Nappa, watch it on your left!" shouted Raditz.

Since leaving there apartment, the Saiyans had been greeted by nothing but mercenaries and Frieza's own personal kill squad. The order sent out by Frieza had been an all-out alert on every scouter within a five planet radius, and in next to no time, floods of mobilised mech units had made their way onto the planet with the sole purpose of hunting down the Saiyans.

They had just made it through a huge ambush outside the hanger doors; they had to blast through the wreckage of the mechs and countless corpses to get through to the hanger. What they were welcomed by caused their faces to pale. Frieza's minute stature was what greeted them when they made it through the doors; he was accompanied by the hulking pink form of Dodoria, the freakish Zarbon and what looked like to be a squad of Frieza's elites.

"Vegeta, get to your pod now!" ordered Nappa. Normally, the bald Saiyan would have never dreamed of talking to his superior in such a manner but the situation more than called for it. It was his duty to protect the young prince.

"What? You must be insane, I'm not letting you fight these freaks alone, I would rather die!" retorted Vegeta stubbornly. He knew that there was no way any of them would come out of a battle with Frieza with their lives intact, but no prince worth his salt would ever abandon his comrades.

"Don't worry, you're going to be alone, Nappa and I will hold them off while you meet up with Gohan," said Raditz, clearly also ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for his prince. "It's our only chance, the Saiyans have to live to see another day!"

"Are you both insane?" exclaimed Vegeta, his eyes wide as he attempted to comprehend what was happening. Raditz and Nappa were strong for Saiyans, sure, but without him, they would hardly stand a chance against Frieza and his cronies.

"Probably," sighed Nappa as an elite charged at him, the General dispatching him with ease.

"We won't be able to hold them off much longer," said Raditz as he kicked another elite in the chest before tossing the body into a group of people flying at him. With a raised palm, both he and Nappa shot corresponding blasts of energy which incinerated a number of men. "You've got to catch up with half breed, tell him what's going on and then avenge our race."

"See you in the afterlife Vegeta," shouted Nappa as he charged forward on the offensive.

"It's been good serving you my prince," said Raditz before he copied Nappa's charge. Vegeta stood frozen momentarily, shocked by the fact that his teammates were willing to sacrifice their own lives for him. With a growl of anger, he flew upwards to where his pod was stored. Looking down, he saw Raditz and Nappa fighting valiantly, however Dodoria, Zarbon and Frieza had not yet entered the battle, no doubt not wanting to dirty their own hands. Frieza seemed to be watching Vegeta all the while, a twisted smile upon his lips.

When Vegeta reached the top level, he found several guards waiting for him, each of them firing multiple ki blasts at him. Vegeta dodged and countered to the best of his abilities, defeating each of the warriors before him. Without turning around to see the carnage beneath him, Vegeta got into his pod and placed the co-ordinates into the system in record speed. Within seconds, the pod lifted into the air and blasted off into space.

For the first time in years, there were tears in Vegeta's eyes as he mourned the sacrifice of his companions, his rage filled cries muffled by the vacuum of space.

...

**Hope you enjoyed, please review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everybody, DevilsDoCry again, you must all be getting sick of me by now, oh well here's Chapter 5 for your reading pleasure.**  
><strong>Disclaimer: Neither I nor TDS own Dragonball, Dragonball Z or Dragonball GT, but to be honest who would want to own GT? I mean come on... seriously.<strong>

**...**

Goku couldn't believe his eyes or ears, after so many years, after so long coming up with theories and ideas about the whereabouts of his son, he had finally returned home to him, and beaten him within an inch of his life. But this Gohan was much different to the one that had been kidnapped so many years ago, the most obvious being how much he had grown over the years, and how much he now resembled his father more than his mother. When Gohan was younger, he had the soft features of his mother, but now on the verge of manhood his features mirrored the sharp angular ones of his father, but there was one thing he still shared with his mother, his eyes. Even though they were filled with nothing but tears and years of pain they were still the exact same as his mother's.

But unlike Goku, Gohan's hair wasn't gravity defying, it resembled his uncle's mane of long hair, it had been cut rather crudely at one point into what resembled a pony tail. It was during Goku's mental checklist of the differences and similarities between him and his son, that two almighty growls issued from both men's stomachs, letting out a weak smile Gohan stopped his crying.

"Come on son, I'm sure it has been an age since you had any proper food, and I think your mother, and little brother would like to meet you," said Goku offering Gohan a hand and a smile.

"S-sure dad, but can I change first I don't think it would make a good impression seeing mum for the first time in years wearing just a towel," said Gohan returning his father's smile, finding despite his harsh upbringing it came smoothly.

"Fine we will be waiting in the kitchen for you, you better hurry though, Goten eats like a pig."

As Goku left the room Gohan let his mind wander, _'So this is what having a family feels like, it doesn't feel as strange as I thought it would, probably because of having my uncle around with me for so long. But still all this kindness, it feels misplaced, I beat my own father into the pavement and he is willing to forgive me, there has got to be more to this.'_ Gohan could've stood there all day and let his thoughts run wild, but the wondrous smell, of pork and beef was invading his nostrils and making him salivate. Quickly throwing on what appeared to be a deep purple gi Gohan wandered outside of his room.

Slowing walking through the narrow halls Gohan would stop and investigate photos on the wall from time to time, there were pictures of what appeared to be his younger brother at different locations with his parents, _'My god he is the spitting image of dad, it's impossible to tell them apart.'_ There was a photo of his mother and father on a beach somewhere, it must've been from their honeymoon, the picture looked extremely aged, and the pair of them looked more youthful than they did the last time Gohan had seen them together.

Continuing on his walk through the halls of the house, Gohan stumbled upon an open door in the house, with the huge double bed and its immaculate condition Gohan surmised that this was his parent's room, but it was a picture on the bedside table that caught most of Gohan's attention. In it was his mother and his father, but what surprised him most was the child clinging to his father's frame, _'So that's what I looked like when I was young... I look so helpless, so afraid of the world around me. No... never again will I go back to being like that.'_

Gohan was so swept up in his thoughts he didn't notice the petite woman staring at him from the doorway, it wasn't until she opened her mouth did Gohan even realise there was another person in the room. Vegeta would've been disappointed in him, being so wrapped up in his emotions that he could not even detect the presence of his mother.

"That was taken on your fourth birthday, me and your father took you to the amusement park as a treat. We had one of the best times of our life that day, and then a month later, you were gone from our lives for the next thirteen years... I was so sure you had been killed by the Saiyans, that I gradually started to get back on with my life. I'm still scared of what these Saiyans have done to you, my poor, innocent Gohan, but I'm so relieved to know that you're at least alive," said a very tearful Chichi not waiting to embrace her eldest son.

Gohan just stood there dumbfounded, in all of his time with the Saiyans none of them had shown any emotion towards him - maybe the rare well done or pat on the back - but nothing like this. Perhaps it was because none of them were his parents, there was Raditz but he was the last person Gohan would have considered to be his father figure. Gohan just stood there and let his mother cry it out of her, she too had been through years of torment just like Gohan had, except her pain wasn't physical. The mental torture she had been through showed, for someone in her late thirties, she almost resembled someone in their early fifties. After a while Chichi let go of her son and stifled her tears, after rustling through a few drawers, she applied her makeup to make it look as though she never cried.

"Your father and brother must be dying of hunger, so come I'll show you through to the kitchen," said Chichi grabbing her eldest son by the hand and leading him through to the other end of the house.

As Chichi and Gohan entered the kitchen, there were loud sounds of belching coming from the dining area, what appeared to be a feast fit for hundreds, had been laid before Gohan, sat at the table was his father, Goku and another smaller version of his father which could only be Goten. Gohan had so many questions he wanted to ask his father, what had happened in the last 13 years? How had he achieved Super Saiyan? Why was his room left untouched? However the feast that lay before Gohan was a more pressing matter, it had been two weeks since he had last eaten solid food, the liquid stuff in the pod was enough sustenance but it tasted like crap and it had been years since Gohan had partaken in home cooking. After the son men had gorged upon their food and sat around the table with much expanded waistlines, a question of Gohan's had to be answered.

"Father, how did you tap into the Super Saiyan transformation?" asked Gohan lazily but inquisitively.

"Well my son that is quite a tale, and I don't think there is any better a place to start than right from the beginning. Goten go to your room, this is something for your brother to know but not you," said Goku pointing to the door on the far side of the room.

"Aww come on dad, you never tell me these stories, please, please, please," asked a begging Goten.

"I will tell you when you are older, but for now bed, you're training with Tien tomorrow so you need your rest," said Goku, knowing from experience that if you weren't one hundred percent when training with Tien, then you would be coming home sore.

"If you could hold your questions until I am finished please, I have much to tell you. Well when you were taken by your uncle... something in me changed, it felt like my purpose for being here was no more, that all the happiness in the world was gone; that I had failed my family. So I threw myself into training pushing myself to my limits so I could find a reason to live again, this was the only thing I could do at the time, I neglected your mother and looking back it was a terrible decision, I would be away for months at a time and when me and your mother did talk all we did was argue till we couldn't speak; it really strained our marriage. We were on the brink of getting a divorce when Bulma's father came up with an invention that meant I could train to my limit and be close to your mother, he made me a gravity chamber, it meant that I could push my body to limits unattainable on this planet, even though the arguing stopped between me and your mother, there wasn't a day that went by when she didn't blame herself for you being taken away. We had fleeting moments of rare love and passion, but these were few and far beyond."

Gohan's face turned into a grimace, he was disgusted about the way his father was talking about him and his mothers inter-marital activities.

"Oh don't give me that look, how do you think you got here? Anyway where was I, oh yes, it was from one such night that your mother became pregnant with your brother, and when he was born my life felt like it had been given a new purpose. I had been given a new reason to live, and I wasn't going to let this one go so easily. I continued in my training, each day I reached new plateaus of power, each day promising to myself that I would give nothing but my last dying breath to protect my son, and that's when the androids arrived, the old remnants of the red ribbon army that I had a hand in destroying, had re-emerged armed with three powerful androids."

...

_"Why have you androids come here, what do you want?" asked an enraged Goku._

_"Oh nothing, we just want your life. If you would nicely hand it over, then we can be on our way and blow up the nearest city, hmm doesn't that sound fun? Eh Seventeen?" replied the blonde haired one advancing on Goku._

_"Definitely Eighteen, I can't wait to rip out some poor bystanders spine with my bare hands, so can we get this idiot killed already?" said Seventeen charging up to mirror the advance of Eighteen._

_As Goku prepared to face off against the two androids, he couldn't help but notice the largest one standing there, just standing there looking at the scenery, and by the looks of it enjoying being out in the open plains._

_Goku was brought out of his thoughts by the two advancing androids, who were dangerously quick and were striking with extreme force, the androids also had pinpoint precision and worked great in a team, as soon as Goku blocked ones strike the other would have spotted the opportunity to attack somewhere else on his body._

_It had been going on like this until Krillin had shown up, fortunately for Goku, he had made sure his comrades were kept fighting fit and sharp, in case any danger arose, and with Krillin and Goku both trained in the turtle school style of fighting they could easily coordinate their attacks against the killer duo. As Krillin intervened the pair of fighters broke off from one another, Goku fighting Seventeen on one side, Krillin fighting Eighteen on the other._

_Both seemed evenly matched for a little while, but the androids had endless energy reserves and could fight all year if they wanted to, it wasn't long until Goku and Krillin were on the end of a losing battle._

_"Ha, come on Sixteen, this is so much fun! Come on try it, it's lots more fun than all that nature crap!" exclaimed Seventeen._

_"No thank you, I just want to watch the animals," came the extremely placid voice of Sixteen._

_Even though he was receiving a beating, Goku could still see that the big one, _Sixteen _as__ they called him was sat cross legged just watching the landscape. He seemed so placid and carefree compared to the other two psychopaths, and even the animals near him seemed to have picked up on it. A young Blue Jay had nestled itself into the giant of an android's massive palm... even though he had the power to demolish cities, this android was petting the bird with the gentleness of a saint._

_"Maybe this will get him riled up," said Seventeen, launching a Ki ball at the other androids hand, incinerating the bird in his hand._

_The look of pain on his face was heart breaking, androids were supposedly not able to feel emotions according to Bulma, but this one surely would have broken down in tears if he had the ability or capacity to. Arising from his cross legged position, he shot a death glare at Seventeen._

_"Seventeen!" was all he roared, flinging himself at the much smaller android, with his larger size he was dominating Seventeen, keeping him pinned to the floor he continued to beat him into the ground, each time sending a spiderweb of cracks through the ground, pounding on Seventeen's face with such anger and vigour, that the much faster android couldn't get away. It wasn't until Eighteen shot a Ki blast at Sixteen's back was Seventeen able to get out from underneath him and return the beating, the difference in speed was extremely evident. Sixteen wasn't able to stand up against his smaller counterpart for very long, because of the vast speed difference Seventeen delivered a devastating two foot kick to the other androids chin, completely disconnecting his head from his body and causing it to twirl around in the air before landing with a _clunk_ on the ground._

_"G-Goku, please beat them... do it for, t-t-the animals, ple...," before he could finish he was cut short by Seventeen stomping on his head._

_"Stupid fool, now where were we?" said Seventeen with a crooked smile on his face._

_However he hadn't realised that witnessing that caused something within Goku to snap. It was an animalistic feeling, much like the Oozaru form he would take as a child but this... this was different. Instead of it taking over him, it seemed to be drawing power from this rage within him, all the feelings of hurt and anger from different points in Goku's life were fuelling his power. The rage and anger he had suppressed all his life was slowly creeping to the surface, slowly turning into a key that unlocked the latent power within the Earth-raised Saiyan. Goku was so overwhelmed that he hadn't noticed the outward changes starting to occur. His already gravity defying hair was growing longer and turning blonde in colour._

_"Tch, big deal you changed hair colour, what are you going to do flo..." Seventeen never finished his sentence, Goku had crushed the androids windpipe into dust._

_"Now you know what it feels like to know fear, android. Don't worry about slowly dying, you aren't worthy of your last moments so here... let me quicken the process," said Goku in a menacing voice. For those that knew the man, they would be able to tell that something had changed within him. His voice wasn't just angry, it was furious - so much so that another might have mistaken it for being sinister. Grabbing the android's arms, Goku mercilessly ripped them out of their sockets._

_As a shocked Eighteen watched this, she knew that sticking around would have been suicide, so with a burst of energy she delivered Krillin a knockout blow and flew off._

...

Gohan just sat there mystified, he had learnt more about the transformation in a single hour then he ever did with thirteen years of living with the Saiyans. So it took an intense burst of concentrated rage to achieve the transformation... it was almost preposterous to think that this was what had had the Saiyans stumped for a thousand years. Goku could see Gohan was deep in thought about something, Goku almost fell out of his chair when he noticed the time.

"Well that's a first, she's late for once," said Goku placing his hand behind his head and rubbing his neck.

"Who's late?" said Gohan hauling the massive weight of his father of the ground.

"A student that I took on," he answered. "Now I'm normally not one for teaching, but when she turned up on my doorstep, I could hardly refuse. She had spent months just searching for a master that would teach her their ways, but none would treat her normally.

"Why wouldn't they treat her normally, is she some kind of leper?" joked Gohan.

"No, but her father is the World Champion, and as such no dojo in the city will train her for fear of her father. To be honest, he's not that strong by our standards but we opt to not show off in front of a crowd."

Just as Goku had finished his sentence there was a knocking at the door, Goku motioned for Gohan to get it. With a sigh, Gohan got up and opened the door however he was stunned at what he saw. Before him was a young girl that looked about his own age, a set of pigtails framing her face, however the feature the half-Saiyan was most drawn to was the girl's eyes. They were like a sea of deep blue that Gohan felt he could swim in forever.

It was only a momentary lapse in composure, but Gohan was already mentally chastising himself for letting it slip. _'Focus Gohan, this isn't the first female you have ever met, so don't go losing your cool already.'_

"Gohan, I would like to introduce you to Ms. Videl Satan," said Goku feeling the happiest he had in a long time.

...

**Author's Notes: Hope you enjoyed, please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Guess who's back? Back again, Devil's back, tell a friend. But in all honesty, Eminem don't sue us, we have no money and I am not going back to my night job. Anyway here is Chapter 6 of A Home Once Lost.**

**Disclaimer: Neither me nor TDS own what were writing about.**

...

Bringing his fist down on the last mercenaries skull, Vegeta let out a sigh. After his escape he had been pursued by various mercenary groups from across the cosmos. Everything from ex-Cold Army Special Forces, to first time jobbers, all of them had answered the call for Vegeta's head. Most were in it for the money, a few others were in it to have the honour of killing the last full blooded Saiyan in existence, but little did they know there was another half way across the galaxy.

_'Argh, bastards managed to track me here. Frieza was wanting me to escape, the bastard knew I would lead him straight to the brat's home planet. Lucky that someone nailed my main booster, or the pod wouldn't have emergency landed on this planet, wherever the fuck I am.'_

Vegeta had found himself on a desert planet, the heat beating down on the planet was causing the very air in the distance to warp and wave, Vegeta very suddenly became aware of the intense heat that was beating down upon him, a trail of sweat was starting to drip from his neck to the base of his back.

_'I could strip down and burn, or keep clothed and sweat out every vital fluid I will need. Ah well, it'll be nice to work on my tan.'_ Reaching over his head, Vegeta yanked of the hyper impact rubber armour, that was a standard among Frieza troops, _'Well now they won't be able to recognise me as easily any more.' _Tugging at the spandex clinging to his body, Vegeta yanked the upper half of his body suit and pulled it down to his waist, revealing his entire upper body to the elements.

_'Time to get walking, hopefully this place has some transportation that can handle Space, I don't want to burn to death on some backwater planet in the nether regions of the galaxy. Ha, at least the kid is having a better run of luck than I am.'_

_..._

Gohan was surprised by this revelation, in the short time he had been with his family on Earth, he had learnt that many martial artists had requested to train underneath his father after his legendary victory over Piccolo at the 23rd World Tournament. Each one of them offered staggering amounts of money that meant there family could live in luxury, but each time they would be turned away. His father's reasoning was that only those who had dedicated everything to being a better warrior and a better person were worthy of being taught his techniques and becoming his pupil.

"Well, dad I am going to have to be honest... but what's so special about her? You've had offers from many established and decorated fighters and turned them all away, what is about this one that makes her any different than the rest?" said Gohan, not bothered by the fact that Videl was mere feet away from him.

"Well what makes you oh so damn high and mighty? Just because you have spiky hair and a six pack doesn't make you any better than me, buddy," stung back Videl unexpectedly.

"Haha well Gohan there's your reason, she has fire in her, all those martial artists who approached me before didn't have that fire... that pure determination," whispered Goku full of glee.

"Well you know what they say about all mouth and no trousers, it's all well and good being able to talk the talk but can this little girl walk the..." Gohan never got to finish his sentence.

Videl had had enough of him and decided that implanting her foot into his head would make him be a bit more respectful, however she couldn't have been more wrong. The instant before her ankle had hit his face, Gohan's hand had jumped up and grabbed the stretched appendage. With relative ease, Gohan lifted her upside down and left her dangling, causing her incredibly baggy shirt to fall down revealing her, milky white torso.

Gohan was amazed at how sculpted and defined her stomach was, each abdominal muscle perfectly formed, _'Why the hell would anyone with such a perfect body hide it under these clothes?'_ Gohan's inspection of her torso didn't go unnoticed by Videl, who was very clearly red in the face. She was embarrassed that he had picked her up like a damn rag doll, but even more so that he was giving her the once over in the middle of combat.

"Pervert!" Videl screamed before pulling back her fist and striking at the only piece of Gohan's anatomy she could effectively hit in this position, the sickly sound of the connection, and the unexpected blow caused Gohan to drop her and to fall to his knees.

"Now that wasn't very ladylike, was it Ms. Satan?" said Gohan still reeling from the blow he had been dealt, although he was already recovering from the damage.

"Oh cry me a river Spikes, I'm here for my lesson. You got in the way of that, and you felt the consequences. Interrupt me again and it's going to cost you the same price," snapped back Videl.

"Okay break it up the pair of you. Videl you need to keep your calm if you want to be taught this lesson, it's much harder to sense Ki while you're angry," said Goku who had been watching the exchange between the pair of teenagers the entire time.

_'Sensing Ki, what is he babbling on about? The only thing that can sense anything is the scouters and they can only sense a fighter's power level... this I've got to see.'_

Picking himself up from the ground Gohan went over to where Goku and Videl had situated themselves, Videl was sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, her eyes were closed, deep in concentration, each exhalation of breath was steady and calm.

"All right Videl, you know the basics of being able to feel Ki around you, but you haven't learnt how to differentiate between certain individuals. Now I want you to open your senses, and reach out to the world around you... try to picture each individual Ki signature that you feel," said Goku in a calm voice.

Videl did as she was instructed, she let her senses reach out to the world around her, in an a instant she could lock onto the calm clear blue Ki of her mentor, and the similar ones of the animals that surrounded the mountain home. There was the Goten's bright green Ki, so full of happiness and childish adventure, and the pale blue Ki of Chichi. Stretching out her sense even further she saw one that was the polar opposite, it was red and seemed to be on fire, the pure heat emanating from it was staggering. Goku had previously taught her that ones like that were the Ki of people who had killed or had caused harm, and so they were not at peace with themselves or the world around them.

Opening her eyes, she finally noticed who the unfamiliar Ki belonged to... it was none other than Gohan.

...

Vegeta took cover behind a cliff face as Frieza's soldiers charged past. Under no ordinary circumstances would he do something so cowardly, however Frieza had been wise enough to send the pink monstrosity known as Dodoria on this little hunt. In a one-on-one situation against the pink alien, he wouldn't have had much of a problem but the hundreds of grunts that had come along meant that getting an opportunity at a one-on-one would be nigh impossible.

The fact that his scouter was busted meant that he had no real way of tracking down where everybody after him was, but thankfully there seemed to be another civilisation on this planet and by lowering his power level as much as he could he was able to drop off the radar. Peeking his head around the corner to see that the coast was clear, Vegeta made a beeline towards where the soldiers had come from.

He flew at a low level, passing by cliffs in such a way that he would be difficult to see from a higher altitude. His thought process was going along the lines in that they would be targeting the strongest person on the planet in the hope that they were him. The last place they were going to look however was the very place that they started.

As he neared the encampment he wasn't surprised to find that it was surrounded by a number of guards but from what he could see none of them were any high ranking officers. Inside the area was a large number of potential getaway ships, all he had to do was commandeer one. With Ki balls in hand he set about doing so.

Not five minutes had passed before the encampment was cleared of all life except for the Saiyan prince. Plucking a scouter from a smouldering corpse, Vegeta placed the machine on the side of his face. With a quick stride, he headed towards the pods hoping that he would have a number of hours of getaway between him and when they would follow. No doubt all of the pods had tracking beacons in them so he at least wanted to get a good lead against the people following. If he could find Gohan and possibly some other warriors on this planet they would be able to fight off Dodoria and his goon squad and then make their next plan.

However it would be a glance to a table that caught Vegeta's attention and cause him to diverge from his path. Picking at the document, Vegeta lifted it up to see his own face staring straight back at him. "A bounty, isn't that just great?" he muttered looking at the price underneath. No doubt this information had already been sent out to every hunter under Frieza's control and even those in the nearby vicinity. The price would attract anybody to the hunt, he was almost worth half the price of a small planet was on the market. Thankfully though, the details underneath limited his known location as 'On the Run: Unknown.'

It was the second piece of paper that he picked up which caused a look of worry to cross his face. The picture was well known to him and it scared him to no degree. The bounty placed on him was higher than his but to Vegeta that told him how much of a threat he was. As it glided from his fingers as Vegeta quickly ran to a pod, the paper having caught a light from the Ki he had created to dispose of the documents. The last piece of information to catch on fire was 'Location: Earth.'

...

**Author's Notes: Hope you enjoyed, next instalment will be up soon.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Kakarot Son and Gohan-to-the-Max here, bringing our efforts together for the next chapter of A Home Once Lost.**

**Disclaimer: TDS, Kaka nor Gttm own Dragonball.**

...

Videl Satan wasn't someone who took things for granted. She never took the fact that she was the daughter of Hercule Satan for granted, after all one day it could all very well vanish. She never _ever_ took the fact that she was a student of the legendary Son Goku for granted, either. But that was why she couldn't help herself from suddenly feeling... jealous... at this Gohan kid. She knew his name was Son Gohan, but beyond that who on Earth was he?

Perhaps he was Goku's brother, they shared the same last name after all but that still did very little to answer her own questions. Why had he killed before? Videl didn't like having her thought processes reduced to those of a four year old but here she was, being shown the same level of recognition, compassion as this monster. How could he look Son Goku in the eye, under the legend's house when he knew that he had killed before? To have the blood of one on your hands would mean that your Ki would be tainted slightly purple, but to have it as red as Gohan's had been... almost orange, it was obvious that he had the blood of many on his hands.

You couldn't deceive Goku, it was as simple as that. He just couldn't be lied to. When your eyes brushed against his, they held a seriousness which told you not to lie. You could just tell that if you did you wouldn't like what would happen next.

_'Quite odd.'_ Videl thought, he was the most innocent _man_ that Videl knew, but not in a million years could she imagine someone crossing him. Lying to the man, deceiving those innocent eyes, was akin to kicking a puppy in the face - it just couldn't be done.

_'Yet… his Ki is red, not the slightest-bit purple. He hasn't come to grips with the fact that he's killed so many. He's angry with himself because of it, or perhaps he's angry with the world...' _Videl couldn't quite tell, she was no expert at diagnosing a person's life story through simply the colour of their Ki signature. She balled her fists in frustration.

Videl couldn't help but ponder upon this stranger, who she'd never met before. But a tinkling feeling in her gut told her she'd meet him many more times in the near future.

...

Chi-Chi smiled as she finished cleaning the dishes. It was good to have her son back, an opportunity she had almost been sure she would never have again.

She couldn't help but allow a tear to drop on the sizzling pan as she removed it from the stove. She hadn't even gotten to see her own son grow up. The person who meant the most to her in the world – apart from Goten - had been violently robbed from her grasp before the age of five. Anything she knew of the old Gohan was now but a distant memory.

And now he was suddenly spiralling back into her life. He was eighteen and puberty done it's work with him, he wasn't her little boy anymore. He had grown, in fact he was taller than anyone that she knew except for a certain Namek. He even stood eye to eye with his massive dad. No, he was a man now. All grown up.

Had he studied with the Saiyans? Was he smart? Could he ever become a scholar?

She hadn't bothered teaching Goten as much as she had with Gohan. She'd rather spend the time she had with _pure, innocent _Goten as best she could. Nurturing it… never forgetting a moment of it, before her second son was robbed from her by cruel fate. She wondered just what the boy thought of her now, if she found herself struggling to remember the sweet little boy with a Dragon Ball on his head, the princess was almost positive that her son wouldn't have many memories of her.

It would be almost like getting to know a whole new person for both of them. He hadn't just aged physically after all, he was almost certainly a very different person to the four year old she had once raised. Chichi couldn't help but wonder what his opinion on certain topics would be, surrounded by Goku and Goten all, the woman didn't have many options for adult conversation but now... perhaps.

That was to hope that the Saiyans hadn't drastically changed him. He had been nice enough the day before, but she was sure that the shock of meeting his long-lost parents again would have been an element which added to that. Now that the shock had worn off though, perhaps she'd find that he was a lot colder than he had previously let on. Goku had mentioned, despite how glad he was to have his son back, that they hadn't met on good terms and the boy's behaviour had been very reminiscent of his uncle - Raditz, the Saiyan who had kidnapped him all those years ago.

Chichi had never met a Saiyan up close. Well there was Goku, but he didn't count; she had never met a _real_ Saiyan up close. Apparently Raditz hadn't left that great an impression on their little gang all those years ago at Kame House, so she couldn't say she was very enthusiastic about finding out the repercussions of leaving a small child with a group of bloodthirsty warriors for over a decade.

She needed to get to know her son better… the only way a mother of Chi-Chi's calibre knew how.

...

Son Chi-Chi grabbed her first born son by the ear, and pulled him through the door.

"I said it earlier as well," Chi-Chi said stubbornly crossing her arms. "We're going for a walk through the woods."

Gohan smiled nervously. "Sure whatever mum…"

_'What's a _woods_?'_ Gohan thought as he continued to smile, wincing slightly on the inside. '_Didn't expect her to be so loud.'_

"Don't whatever mum me, young man!" Chi-Chi screeched, before dusting her casual kimono off and grabbing his hand. "Let's go!"

Gohan let his hand slip out of his mother's, before taking it and raising it to his forehead with a sigh. '_How did I let her talk me into this?/_

"Are you coming or not?" Chi-Chi said her hands on her hips.

_'I wonder what she'd do if I said no.'_

...

"God dammit!" Vegeta screamed as he pounded his fist against a wall of the pod. "This pod isn't fast enough and the brat's in a lot of bloody danger right now."

To say that the prince was pissed off would be a large understatement. Not only had he lost Raditz and Nappa who knew how long ago, but here he was about to lose the last remnants of his race to any bounty hunter that could catch the brat off guard. Gohan was a good warrior, but he was too unprepared and had always been the first of them to let his guard down.

On a backwater planet like Earth, there would be no reason for him to have his guard up at all. By now Gohan would be in one of two situations, he would've conquered the planet and as such he would have no-one to fear on it or he would be blending in as one of the locals. It was no secret that blending into a crowd was far harder if you were tense, expecting an attack, you would stick out from a mile away.

Gohan was in danger, that was for sure but at the same time there was a little nagging feeling in the back of his head, telling him he was forgetting something. Something important but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

What was so familiar about the name 'Earth?'

...

He stared at her facial features as they both were walking along the path leading out from the house. Already he noticed the changes on it and now she began to appear more youthful however still she looked older then what she actually was. Was this due to him returning? It had to be, the changes in her face were already appearing to happen as she looked happier than the first instant she saw him again. They both continued to walk as he wandered behind her; she walked so freely into the trees, so aware of her surroundings yet he wasn't. He knew that they were familiar to him yet at the same time he was unable to remember where he was.

He couldn't help but wonder how he'd been dragged into this whole situation. He was supposed to be Planet Vegeta's warrior. There lone prodigy he was quite sure he could trample Vegeta, in a fight. He was supposed to be Frieza's tool, left there to use. Not to show any emotion nothing, simply a droid. Lest he get killed, for fear of rebellion…

But now he had found his family and they were so warm and accepting. Was it even fair? He had left them and forgotten about them, and now they were acting as if he had never left.

Did he even deserve to be called _their_ son? They were so pure and innocent yet he'd tainted his hands with blood. He just couldn't live with himself, the moment he stared into his father's eyes he felt and undying sense of guilt.

"Come on Gohan, there is much to show you." She smiled as she twirled her body around; he continued to stare at the woman who brought him life. Her hand stretched out as he watched it carefully. "These are the woods where you used to play in after your study breaks."

That was why they were familiar, he once used to play here as a child. Still he was wary, one thing he learned from the Saiyans was no matter how safe a place appeared to be, it never was. Danger could come from anywhere.

"Mum, is it safe here?" He pondered whilst she let of a soft chuckle.

"Of course it is; the most dangerous creatures on this planet are you, Piccolo and your father. This planet is otherwise peaceful. Sure it has conflict on it, but the conflict on it won't cause us harm." She chirped as her hand still was held out for his. "Take my hand now, let me show you more."

His eyes moved down to her outstretched hand, he too stretched out his and grabbed onto hers. A sense of familiarity and yet a sense of strangeness screamed out through the touch. Grabbing onto someone's hand was different; never in his time with the saiyans did he take hold of their hands. It was a sign of weakness however it seemed so normal and natural and brought happiness to him.

"Why did you leave my room untouched?" He bluntly asked as the two continued to stroll, he felt her tight grip on his hand loosen as she let it go.

"... I left it untouched because every time I wanted to go in and change it, I felt my heart screaming not to." She whispered, her tone of her voice changed into something sadder. "Even when I thought you were dead, I wished you'd just one day be in your room once again... studying at your desk... I couldn't let you go, I always had a gut feeling you would return yet I thought you never were going to come back."

For a few seconds, he stopped and stared at her, tears began welling in her eyes as this time he was the one to embrace her in a hug before he backed away and stared at her. "It's okay, I'm back."

"You've...killed...people..." She cried as he diverted his eyes. His body became shifty whilst this time he looked down to his feet, his fists clenched tightly as an angry look appeared on his face. She stepped back a few feet; never in her life did she feel threatened. "I'm sorry, just I want to know more about you."

"It's fine." He answered coldly as he threw his tall body around. "It was the only way to survive; if I didn't kill then I had to prepare to be killed. I wanted more in my life, I wanted to live. I'm a Saiyan, which means I needed to survive."

"You said you wanted more in life, but what is more for you? Is it education?" She replied quickly as she moved closer to her oldest son. He released a chuckle as the two continued to walk on.

"Perhaps, I still remember you drilling information in my head, the Saiyans laughed and beat me every time they caught me reading a book about a race of an alien's culture. It was more because we just purged their planet and they believed that once a species was extinct, it was a bad omen to learn their culture. Yet I was still educated in some senses, just a different type of education than what you would have wanted for me."

...

Earth, the place where the youngest member of his team was born and was currently at… Earth, the planet named after dirt... What was so special about it? Nothing, nothing that came to mind anyway anyway. His pod continued to fly at a fast pace throughout the darkness of space. Sweat drops slipped down his face. What if it was too late? Sure, the brat was strong but was he strong enough to face the dangers of what was to come?

He couldn't let the boy die, the brat was an important member of the team. From the beginning he immediately was attached to him however he didn't show it, he never did. He remembered how they met and how disappointed he was that he had been brought a half breed instead of the brother Raditz had promised. He remembered being rather annoyed at how innocent the boy was, how he lacked the drive to fight unless he was threatened with the prospect of death. Drilling in the Saiyan culture with nothing left to show for it had been hard enough, never mind how soft the boy had been back then.

...

"_Raditz, what is the meaning of this?" the Prince yelled as he held the small child by only his Saiyan tail. Tears filled the boy's eyes as he continued to scream loudly. Vegeta's grip tightened even more as he slammed his fist into the screaming child's stomach, causing silence to immediately overtake the room. "This is a screaming brat, not a Saiyan warrior."_

"_My prince, please, this was all I could get. This half breed was all that was left on planet Earth, his father was not fit enough to be called a Saiyan and even weaker than him."_

"_A _half breed_? You know as well as I do that we cannot allow our blood to be tainted..."_

"_But my prince, you must understand that he may just be the future of our race. We need the Saiyan race to be continued and perhaps this is the answer... sure he is weak at the moment, but this boy has a hidden power of which I've never seen the likes of. When he's angry, his power level seems to skyrocket - it even rose to one similar to my own, so with some training perhaps he can become a true Saiyan warrior."_

_An evil smirk appeared on the prince's face as his eyes turned to Nappa. "Turn your scouter on, let's see if the brat's worthy enough to live another day."_

_..._

To think that Gohan had grown from _that_ to the hardened warrior he was today... a half breed, he may be, but Vegeta knew that he was doing his ancestors proud. He was still far from the ideal Saiyan warrior, but he was certainly powerful and he had let go of his foolish morals that he'd clung onto so tightly when he was a child. It was frightening to think just how potent the halfling's blood made him.

The prince looked up to the small screen mounted on the wall of the pod. Good, he wasn't far from the brat. He just hoped that he wouldn't be too late.

"Brat, I'm coming," he whispered.

...

His eyes shot wide open, power ran through his fingertips as he watched his surroundings carefully, now he fell down to Earth. An evil smirk swept across his face as his pod slammed down into the ground below causing the dust to rise up to an extreme level. He waited a few minutes before he typed in a few digits on the machine and the door began to open. Slowly it opened as the dust began to settle. He released an evil chuckle as he knew he succeeded in being stealthy; he was one of a kind. Never had he met another who could suppress his power just as well as he could... he was never to be detected which made him perfect.

From outside the pod, an elderly man stood shaking. His left hand pointed at the pod as he pointed his finger at it. A yelp was emitted when he saw the dark green hand slam down on the circular structure, within a few seconds a large shape appeared. His body was just as green as his hands but different shades of green ran throughout it. His stomach was toned to an extreme, the muscles throughout his body bulged yet at the same time, when he moved, he moved with grace and elegance.

His laugh was what scared the elderly man the most. That was no laugh of a man who wouldn't harm another. He was frozen to the ground; his legs violently started shaking as the creature pointed his finger at him.

"Looks like I've got a welcoming party," He laughed manically as the man quickly jumped around and ran as fast as an elderly man could. A dark red beam shot out from his fingers as the man disappeared, leaving only a pile of dust. "I still have it."

His large bug like eyes shot over to the sky, quickly they shut as he began searching and scanning the area for any unusual ki levels. So far there was nothing, accept a few animals and mere humans nearby. It was hopeless; his target wasn't in the detecting area. He stamped his feat in frustration as he moved towards his pod and leant into it.

He pulled out a small piece of paper as his smirk appeared more sinister. After studying the paper for a few seconds he screwed it up and placed it into his mouth. The same sinister smirk still rested on his face as he lifted his body up into the air. An orange aura surrounded him as he levelled his power to one of a mere human, this way he was able to detect further a field and not get found out. His Ki expanded as he continued to search, more powerful humans became noticed by him. His smirk disappeared as he focussed more of the energy of a normal human.

"Son Gohan, I have found you."

...

**Hope you enjoyed, please review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: We do not own DBZ**

**This chapter was brought to you by Gue22 and Joy's Canvas.**

…

"Son Gohan, I have found you," his sinister grin spread even further across his face.

With his orange aura still blazing around him, he thought of flying straight to the target's location, but quickly decided against it. He would expel a bit of his energy if he flew, and the boy could pick him up on his scouter. No. Flying was out of the question. He wanted to maintain the power level of a mere human so that he would have the element of surprise on his side he finally struck his prey.

Still grinning, he descended to the ground, and began walking, carelessly stepping over the spot of ashes of the man he had just incinerated. He would find himself a local transport mechanism and use that instead.

A few minutes into his walk, he was starting to get really annoyed with his lack of findings. That was until he suddenly came upon some kind of human dwelling. He noted the flimsy mud like walls making up the structure, the thatched roof and a bit smoke coming from the chimney, and his mood suddenly brightened.

_'Finally,'_ he smirked, 's_omeone to question on where to get decent transport around here._ He picked up his pace, with his huge eyes glistening with excitement at the prospect of 'questioning' a pitiful earthling.

_'This should be fun.'_

...

"Perhaps," Gohan told his mother as they continued to stroll around the woods of Mt Paozu. She had just been enquiring about whether or not he would be interested in some kind of education. "I remember you drilling information in my head as a kid." He smiled lightly, finding that the more time he spent with her, in his home and in these woods, the memories just seemed to gush out.

"The Saiyans laughed and beat me every time they caught me reading a book about a race of an alien's culture. It was more because we just purged their planet and they believed that once a species was extinct, it was a bad omen to learn their culture." He continued conversationally, without taking note of how his mother's demeanour had just changed at his words.

"Yet I was still educated in some sense, just a different type of education than what you would have wanted for me." He was about to say more when the woman suddenly turned from him, her small shoulders visibly shaking as a horrible wounded sound erupted from her vocal cords.

_'What did I say?'_ he thought in panic, taking a hesitant step towards her. The sound just got louder and louder, making his insides twist around horribly, in a way the sight of tears had not affected him in a long time.

"Mom?" he tried the foreign term, surprised that it rolled off his tongue so easily. '_Fuck!'_ He cursed his lack of data. He had no idea what to do in the face of a crying female. Usually the only females that cried would end up on the receiving end of an incinerating blast from him, a blast that would not only shut them up and spare his ears, but also a blast that would extinguish their entire race or species into extinction. But this was a different matter all together, this was his mother, and instinct made him want to take her pain as his own.

"I just can't believe that they beat you!" She suddenly turned around, her eyes ablaze with tears and fury "What kind of monsters beat a four year old child?"

_'Huh? All of these tears were being shed because of the beatings I endured as a child? All children are beaten so they can get stronger, what's the big deal about that?' _He thought to himself, but quickly realised that he had no memory of ever being beaten by his parents.

"I swore to protect you from the minute you were born," she snivelled, and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I swore to never let anything happen to you, but that man... Raditz, he took you and there was nothing we could do to stop him. Your father has never been the same you know, you were our pride and joy, our beloved son, and it crippled us when we were left helpless to get you back."

His insides cringed in guilt at the obvious pain his kidnapping had caused his parents. "I'm sorry my absence caused you so much pain mother," his usually flat and emotionless tone came out surprisingly soft

"It's not your fault. You're home now, and I'm so happy I'm afraid I might explode from it," she moved quickly to embrace and squeeze him before sitting down on the lush grass beneath their feet.

"Sit with me." She patted at the soft spot next to her, and when Gohan hesitantly sat, his mother surprised him by pulling his head into her lap as she threaded her fingers through his hair while she began to hum a familiar song, just like she used to do when he was a little boy.

His cheeks were suddenly overcome with heat from embarrassment, yet he did nothing to stop her. He would never admit it to anyone, but it felt strangely comforting and… nice to be handled so tenderly.

He found himself completely perplexed by the caring woman before him, and somehow he liked it. Throughout his time on the ship he never had the comfort or care of a woman. It was always an aggressive atmosphere; one in which he was drilled into a warrior. In that time he never wondered about the soft touch of a mother, or the compassion that she would hold. He was a warrior with no emotions, well…at least that was what he was trained to become.

He allowed his body to completely relax, staring up at the clouds and listening to the gentle humming of his mother's voice. '_How did I let her take me out here? If Vegeta was here he would be bashing my head in for this,'_ he cringed at the thought of being discovered in such a pitifully weak position. He shifted his gaze away from the clouds and stared at the woman that had given him life. He was already getting soft he realised as he felt an all consuming unspeakable joy at seeing her smile.

It was the first time since his arrival that he was seeing her smile so. She looked as if she was caught away in another world. He was pretty sure that he had never seen anyone happier than his mother was at the very moment. A beautiful purple butterfly; something he had read about in a book, began to dance around her nose.

…

Videl turned her purse inside out, but the damn thing was nowhere to be found. Irritated she took her private elevator up to the roof and tossed her capsule.

A cloud of smoke later, and her copter materialised. She practically yanked the door open and began searching vigorously for her phone. '_Where is it?_,' she grumbled to herself, as she tossed things here and there. '_Where the hell is it?'_

She was pretty sure she had it yesterday when she talked to Erasa on the phone, and that was just before she… _ah crap!_ It dawned on her. That was just before she knocked on the door when she had just arrived at Son Goku's house for her training.

_'Could I have left it there?'_

…

The glass of the side window of the blue hover car was cracked and chipping off from where he had bashed the drivers head in, before tossing him carelessly on the side of the road. At first glance it looked a bit like a stained glass window from the way the blood smudges had infiltrated into the cracks, creating an almost beautiful medieval pattern.

Not that he noticed.

His sole focus was on the target. This so called 'sports car' was painfully slow compared to how fast he could fly, but he could feel himself getting closer and closer to his location.

He was especially pleased to discover that his prey's Ki was at an all time low for a Saiyan, whatever relaxing activity it was that the boy was currently engaging in, he was very grateful for it. Rumours were flying around that the boy was strong, very strong, perhaps even as strong as some of Frieza's elites like Zarbon, and if that was the case, he wanted to jump him before he had the time to power-up.

Ordinarily, a brawl to the bitter end was what excited him the most, but one million maka shillings was no picnic, with that money he could buy himself a small planet and rule it as a Cold empire colony. He wasn't willing to risk that for the sake of testing his strength against the Saiyan's.

His head touching the roof of the car, he gripped the steering wheel tighter in anticipation, the remnants of the earthling's blood on his hands, making his grip a bit slippery.

"I hope you're ready to die, _Saiyan._"

…

Everything about Earth was astounding to Gohan, and it evoked an emotion he never thought he had: excitement without the blood lust of battle. For thirteen years he was trained, and killed many people without question or care. However with all those faults this world seemed to welcome him, down to the very butterfly that now danced upon _his_ nose.

"You know, a butterfly means change, and rebirth," informed Chichi, amiably. "I don't know what you could have gone through out there sweetie or how to change it. However, I'm just so happy to have you back, home."

Compassion and love filled her voice and it sounded like music to his ears. Why did his mother even care? Less than a day ago he was trampling his father and he damned near killed him too, but she didn't seem to care. How were they so forgiving? Had it been Vegeta or any of them on Frieza's ship, they would have killed him for his audacity, son or no son.

"Honey, I would like if we could start things over," confessed Chichi. "I want us to get to know each other all over again. I think your little brother will really love that, he always asked about you. In fact at times I would scold him because I found him dressing in your clothes. He loved you even though he never met you till today."

His_ brother?_ Gohan propped himself up on his elbows and took in his mother's form. She was leaning against a tree, her legs outstretched and crossed. Her long ebony hair free from the ponytail it had been in earlier. She had the same look on her face from earlier, the same one that coaxed him into going on this very walk.

Were all mothers like this, so persuasive? He could do nothing to prevent the life as it began to beat in the once dusty and hollowness of his heart. He never thought that having a family could feel so phenomenal. He couldn't go against her request, and for the first time in his life it wasn't because he _had_ to follow orders, but because he wanted too. A small smile began to tug at the curves of his lips as he watched the playful butterfly return for another dance. It reminded him of something; it reminded him of a time before he was taken by the Saiyans.

...

"_Aw look at him Goku," he heard his mother's sin- sung voice._

"_Oh, wow. Let's see what'cha got there kiddo," came the strong caring voice of his father._

_Loosely, Gohan held his hands clapped together, as a small butterfly tickled the palms of his hands. He had caught the little bug after several failed attempts, and he was overjoyed by his success. "Pw...wat..tie!" he cried, to his observing parents._

"_Yes it is son, a pretty butterfly," Goku exclaimed. "See you're going to be as fast your pops, and smart as your mother."_

"_Oh, Goku," Chichi breathed, lovingly. "You're the sweetest husband a girl could ever ask for, and Gohan the sweetest son we could ever dream of."_

"_Now it's time to let it go sweetie, so it can go back to its family," informed Chichi_

"_Fa...we," he said, trying best to copy Chichi. He looked up at his two smiling parents that towered his small frame and then let go of the little butterfly. "But…ta..fwe," he screamed, jubilantly. _

_He giggled as Chichi picked him up off the floor, and pulled him to her bosom. "That is good sweetie. Now the butterfly can go home, and be with his family. Family is where your home is sweetie." _

"_Fa..fam..ma..we," he worded._

"_Yes Family, always and forever," she whispered._

_..._

"Gohan?" Chichi called, waving her hand in front of his face. "Hey are you okay sweetie?"

"Yes, mom," he answered. "I think I'd like to start over as well, I like being home." He said, almost shyly.

Chichi squealed as she threw her arms around her young son and pulled him close to her; almost crushing him in her embrace.

"Wow, mom…I don't think that can happen if you kill me," he said between breaths of air.

"Oh, sorry," she laughed, nervously. "Sometimes I get carried away."

"It's okay," he replied; trying to steady his breathing. "I guess you're pretty strong."

"Of course I am," she declared. "I used to be a fighter once. I was the strongest woman in the world. It helps a lot, since I'm married to the world's strongest man in the world. You can't handle all that man without a bit of-"

"Err… I don't think I want to hear the rest of that sentence," he interjected with red stained cheeks. As if saved by the bell his stomach began to growl loudly.

"Oh dear, we've been out here for quite a while. Why don't we get back home? Your father and brother should be back soon. I'm sure they are just as hungry as you," said Chichi.

"Sounds good," Gohan added as they both got to their feet and headed back to the house.

…

"He doesn't like me," Goten pouted

"Sure he does!" Goku ruffled his youngest hair. "It will just take him some time to get used to being home again. He had some very bad things happen to him you know, just give him some time, and just be a good brother, he'll come around you'll see."

The father son duo had been sent out in the morning to pick a particular type of mushroom that Chichi wanted to use, but of course they had completely lost track of time.

"I'm really hungry now, maybe we should go to the lake an catch a giant fish to eat before we go home."

"Oops!" Goku suddenly blurted as he scooped up Goten in his arms and began to fly at wind breaking speeds. "Your mother is going to KILL ME!" he hurtled through the air, his face cringing at the thought of the many ways Chichi would make him pay for being late.

…

"It all smells delicious mom, I can't wait." Gohan was practically salivating at the aromas wafting towards him from the pots and oven.

"Humph!" Chichi fumed, "It would smell a lot better if someone had arrived with my mushrooms!"

"I'm sure dad's already on his way." Gohan said, trying to diffuse the situation. Everything had been so wonderful and nice earlier in the woods with his mother, but as soon as she had started cooking, she had remembered the errand that she had sent Goku and Goten on, and as the minutes ticked by without their appearance, she had slowly started to seethe.

Tap. Tap. Tap

The knocking on the door made Gohan bolt upright, anything to escape the uncertainty of his mother's moo, he gladly take. He knew he could crush her with his pinkie if need be, but something about the way she was angrily going about the cooking kinda scared him. He just didn't know how to handle her mood swings. "See, I'll bet that's dad and Goten at the door," he vanished from his spot and suddenly appeared by the door. Hurriedly, he threw it wide open in anticipation of the duo.

"Oh. It's only _you_." he said with obvious disappointment in his voice at sight of the girl from yesterday. "You don't have training today, what do you want?" he asked, his voice flat and hostile.

Videl decided on the spot that she definitely didn't like this guy, not at all. She willed herself to calm down before she spoke. "I think I left my phone here yesterday, I just came to get it."

"Videl!" Chichi called out from the kitchen, "is that you sweetie?"

"Fine." Gohan relented, stepping aside to let the girl through.

"Hi Mrs. Son, sorry to bother you like this on a Sunday," she spoke sheepishly as she worked her way into the kitchen.

"Shoo!" Chichi waved off her formalities, "honestly Videl, stop making me feel so old with all this Mrs. Son stuff. For the hundredth time, it's just Chichi." She smiled warmly at the girl. "Forgot something?" she asked knowingly

"Yeah, my phone, I looked for it everywhere." Videl frowned.

"Gohan, be a dear and open the second drawer of the linen cabinet in the passage, I put Videl's phone in there yesterday."

"Fine," Gohan grumbled, more than spoke. It irritated him that she was here, invading their family space. It irritated him even more that his body had a physical reaction to her presence. She was just a weak human girl, she shouldn't be stirring his physical interest. He yanked the drawer open and pulled out the offending device, a part of him wanting to crush into fine dust in his hands. It was only as he shut the drawer again, his eyes landing on yet another picture of _him_ as a little boy hiding behind his mother's legs, that he remembered that he too had human blood inside him.

Storming back he halted his steps when he found the girl sitting comfortably on the table. He frowned, as he circled towards her location, sliding the phone next to her. "You have what you wanted so…," he left his sentence hanging, his tone making the unsaid very, very clear.

_'So get the fuck out of here_,' Videl was tempted to finish his sentence for him, but decided not to be rude in front of Goku's friendly wife.

"Thank you," she grabbed the phone and started going through it, completely ignoring the rude and somewhat grumpy taller boy, who was practically glaring at her.

"Have a seat Gohan, I've convinced Videl to stay and join us for lunch. We'll go ahead and start, seems Goku and Goten are still not around." Chichi explained as she placed a mountain of homemade bread on the table.

As she disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve more dishes, Videl put her phone aside and glared back at the boy still staring at and towering over her. "You're staring," she said irritably. "Didn't you get your fill yesterday when you were dangling me around so you could look under my clothes?"

Creamy, perfectly sculpted stomach muscles on a tiny waist; black silky fabric clingingly encasing two round perfectly formed breasts, and a slender inviting neck, were the memories that suddenly flashed before him from the day before. Something stirred in him as he held her gaze, those blue pools doing nothing to cool him off as she continued to stare at him defiantly.

"Here we go," Chichi's voice interrupted the staring match, causing both parties to look away. She placed a huge platter of rabbit stew on the table and walked off to get more food from the kitchen.

Gohan cursed under his breath, when he found his eyes lingering back to the girl as her eyes remained glued to the tiny screen of her phone. She seemed particularly interested in whatever she was reading, and when she suddenly broke into a smile, he felt his breath hitch. He had already admitted that she was attractive in an earthling sort of way, but when she smiled like that…her whole face transformed.

The mesmerising beauty that was the earth forest, with its luscious green trees, hundreds of scattered flowers, freely flowing clear water and dancing butterflies that had captivated him earlier on his walk with his mother, suddenly paled in comparison to what he was seeing.

"Pah!" she laughed out loud, but quickly clamped her hand over her mouth, before the laughter could freely come out and fill the house. Using her fingers, Gohan watched as she pressed on the keys of the device hurriedly, her face filled with warmth and laughter, her eyes alive, as if the device was an actual being she was interacting with.

"Who are you chatting to dear?" Chichi asked, as she placed yet more platters on the table. The food was mounting and yet Gohan had yet to take his eyes off the girl.

"Just a friend of mine," Videl beamed up at Chichi

"_Boy_-friend?" Chichi asked knowingly. Videl blushed, but shook her head. "No, I'm not seeing anyone," she admitted.

"I see," Chichi's eyes twinkled as she went back to the kitchen.

"We're here mom!" Goten declared as he rushed through the door, a sheepish looking Goku following much slower behind him. "Hi big-brother!" the little guy leapt towards his brother, intending to leap straight into his arms, but Gohan's warrior instincts kicked in, and Goten found himself held at arm's length with his legs dangling in the air.

_'Big-brother?'_ Videl's eyes widened in shock. '_This Gohan character is Goku's son? But how? An ex wife perhaps?'_

"I was just saying hi," Goten said sadly, noting the suspicious glare coming from his brother.

"Gohan, put your brother down. Son Goku, in the kitchen, NOW!" she yelled, just after placing another platter of food on the table.

"Aw, but Chichi," Goku glanced longingly at all the food, but lamely followed after his wife.

After being set down on the ground again, Goten circled the table and sat himself next to Videl. "Hi Videl," he said dejectedly, "you like me don't you?" he looked up at her with sad big wounded eyes.

"I sure do, you're such a sweetie," she gave him a squeeze, her eyes shooting daggers towards a certain tall boy. "Tell you what, how about you tag along with me after lunch to meet some of my friends, they're hanging out at Light-Wheel Park?"

"Where they have the big lights and rides that spin faster than a tornado?" his eyes sparkled as he recalled the over the top advert of the theme park he had seen many times of on television.

Videl chuckled, "Well, just between you and me kiddo, I don't think the rides are that fast, but yeah, that's the one."

"MOM! Can Gohan and I go to Light-Wheel Park with Videl after lunch?" he bolted out of his chair and rushed to bombard his mother in the kitchen, while Gohan nearly fell over from shock from being abruptly included in the invitation.

"Aww man!" Goten suddenly ran back to the dining room, plopping himself right back in his seat.

"She said no huh?" Videl asked sympathetically, feeling guilty for planting the seed in the boys mind before speaking to his parents about it.

"She said yes, but it was pretty gross the way dad was cleaning her ears with his tongue. I don't know why he doesn't do it with soap and water." Goten said absently, as his eyes focused on all the yummy dishes on the table. He couldn't help himself, he started drooling from the sight and the smell.

Videl stared at the drooling boy and blinked, while Gohan fought the spread of embarrassment he suddenly felt, because his eyes had immediately lingered to Videl's neck, and then her ears, and something had shifted inside him. And in the words of his brother, he could very well imagine himself cleaning out the earthling girl's neck and ears with his tongue too.

"Lunch is served guys!" a flustered Chichi suddenly appeared with the final platters, Goku trailing behind, balancing six more on his palms and forearms. He had a stupid grin plastered on his face, and Gohan had the feeling that his cheery disposition had nothing to do with lunch.

"Are you expecting more people Chichi, I wouldn't want to intrude?" Videl said, slightly unnerved by the amount of food that was on the table. She had been training with Goku for a while now, but she had never really been invited to stay for a meal before.

"My boys just eat a lot, don't you boys?" she glanced lovingly at the complete family plus Videl, she couldn't help herself, she was already getting crazy ideas into her head, "follow my lead and serve yourself first Videl, trust me, by the time you've taken your first bite, they'll be nothing left." Chichi chuckled as she began to serve herself. Videl was about to laugh off her comment when she saw the predatory way the three males on the table were eyeing the food. Quickly she served herself, and as soon as she started eating, she just as suddenly stopped.

_'What the hell?'_

She saw it, but she didn't believe it.

"Mnnn…this sooo yummy,"

"Oh wow Chi, gluckgrlk…"

"slurp…slurp…slurp…"

Goten, Goku and Gohan were mumbling between giant mouthfuls of food as they reduced the platters to naught faster than was humanly possible.

Gohan was pretty sure that this was the best food in the universe. As a soldier under Frieza's army, you ate to get your fill, not to tantalise your taste buds. Food had been plentiful, but it was dull and tasteless at best.

"Is there more Chi?" Goku licked his lips excitedly at the thought, and poor Videl's face was drained of all colour.

"Don't be rude Goku, we'll all have dessert together when Videl and I finish our meals." Chichi said conversationally.

"Okay," Goku pouted, "say, Videl, can I come too, that place sounds like fun?" Goku suddenly said

Videl blinked at her trainer. Was he serious? "Err…I don't know Goku, I mean it's mostly just kids and teens hanging out there, I don't know if it'd be any fun for you."

"Aw man, being a grown-up is so boring. All the fun things are reserved for kids," he whined, he really, really wanted to go with Videl and the boys so they could all have fun together.

"_All _fun things, are you sure Goku?" Chichi asked with a twinkle in her eye

Gohan rolled his eyes. His father had gone to great lengths to explain how his disappearance had poured cold water in the physical aspect of their relationship, since all he had done during those years was train, but every other sentence or so, their sex life was brought into the picture.

"Heh heh heh…" Goku scratched his head

"I'm not going," Gohan declared, his tone stubborn and final.

"Aw, why not big-brother?" Goten pouted disappointedly.

"I have no time for trivial earthling amusements, I'll be training."

"Earthling?" Videl questioned, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

Chichi cleared her throat, "Gohan you will go with Videl and your brother. A bit of fun never hurt anyone, right Goku?" she looked to her husband to agree with her, but instead of backing her up, Goku abruptly stood up, his body tensed up as his face instantly put on the mask of seriousness.

"Someone's at the door," he announced, "I don't know who it is, but I've not got a good feeling about it," His facial muscles flexed, he hadn't felt this unnerved since Raditz appeared all those years ago.

Gohan cursed his inability to 'sense' as he had discovered that his father can do during his lesson with Videl. The scouters only allowed one to differentiate and identify Ki patterns, as well as measuring power levels. The ability to read Ki as intensely as his father was essentially unheard of in Frieza's Army, especially the ability to decipher its nature.

"How strong?" was his question, as strength was his only concern, he didn't care much for the nature of the signature. He figured it had to be pretty strong to unnerve someone as powerful as his father.

"That's the thing, it's perfectly natural, very low, just like everyone else, but I sense something sinister hidden beneath it, like it isn't all that it seems," was Goku's reply as he continued to stare at the door.

"Pfft," Gohan relaxed, he didn't care how sinister this ki was, if it was just another weak human, there was nothing to worry about. If the person so much as tried anything, if they came here looking to rob his family or cause trouble, he would just blast them him straight to hell. Problem solved.

Tap. Tap. Tap

Sure enough, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Chichi stood up, but Goku placed his hand on her forearm, instructing her without words to do otherwise. Chichi sat back down and watched as her husband went to answer the door.

There was a small creak as the door opened and the next thing they knew, Goku hit the floor.

"Goku!"

"Dad!"

"Who the fuck?"

"Oh my god!"

Chichi, Goten, Gohan and Videl yelled simultaneously, but Chichi had already shot out of her chair, crouching down next to her husband as Goten and Gohan vanished and appeared at the door.

"Goku!" she screamed when she saw the smoke coming from his torso. She cradled him in her arms and tried to shake him, but just like that, she suddenly slumped into him. Blood pooled around his smoking orange gi, even as he blinked and began to compose himself. The blast that had hit him was pretty strong but, it most probably would have incinerated a normal person, but even though he was at his lowest base power level, all it did was throw him back and disorientate him for a few seconds.

The second Gohan and Goten had phased in before the door, a green prepared hand had immediately pulled the trigger on the weapon it was holding within its claws. Before Gohan could even strike, he felt like a whole planet's worth of electrical current was passing through his body.

_'Fuck_,' he inwardly cursed as his body gave out on him, '_bastard shot me with an electro-paralyx tranq.'_ He sank to his knees and fell over sideways, spasms passing through his body. He hated this feeling. Frieza's scientists had developed this technology a while back, and even though it wasn't strong enough to kill a Saiyan, it could definitely put one out of commission for a significant period of time.

Black boots stepped into the house, making the wooden floor creak. "I got you now, you Saiyan fucker," the bounty hunter chuckled as he finally allowed his hidden Ki to flourish freely.

"Chi?" Goku shook off the momentary disorientation and pushed his wife up with his hands as he prepared to get up. "C-Chi?" he stammered in shock, when he saw the blood pooling from an open hole in her torso. "No! Chi!" he shook her, and tilted her face up to his. Her head just dangled lifelessly, the earlier rose of her cheeks nowhere to be found. Her eyes were still open, but there was no life in them what-so-ever. "No! No! Chichi!" he screamed, and cried, his hands shaking uncontrollably as he held her body firmly against him, as if his heart could beat enough for the both of them.

Videl covered her mouth in shock. It had all happened so quickly, she didn't even see anyone move! And by the time she had managed to pull herself out of her chair and get to the entrance in front of the door, Goku was already covered with his wife's blood.

She didn't even get a chance to process anything, because her eyes were immediately drawn to the large unnatural swirl of energy that seemed to be dancing around the green intruder. Gohan was on the floor twitching, and it looked like Goten had tried to attack and found himself shot with the same weapon as his brother. She didn't think or plan, she just reacted. The green intruder with horrible bug like eyes was laughing maniacally as his energy climbed and climbed, if he had been paying attention he would have easily swatted away the earthling girl's leg as it kicked the weapon right out of his hand.

The laughing stopped, as cold eyes fixed themselves on Videl, in a second she was smacked across the face so hard that she went flying and crashing against the wall.

The bounty hunter stepped over Gohan as the electro-tranq continued to electrocute his nervous system, and sneered as he began to form a giant ball of orange Ki.

"Thank you for your life, it's going to make me very rich," he said over the target as the ball continued to grow and grow.

Videl crawled on her hands and knees, unable to get up. The ground suddenly shook, making everything in the house rattle. A chilling wind began to whistle pushing back her clothes onto her body. Vases, picture frames, statues and all other decorative ornaments fell to the floor, breaking into hundreds of pieces, as an animalistic roar erupted from Son Goku. He floated in the air, with his blood soaked orange gi, his eyes wild, with his wife's body dangling in his one arm as a white aura completely encased him.

Gohan cast his eyes up to his father and felt something raw and untamed course through him as his eyes took in the full implications of his mother's state. '_NO! NO! NO!' _The blood in his veins froze in horror.

"Say good-night." The bounty hunter tossed his Ki ball at Gohan and gaped when it instantly changed direction, shooting up towards the ceiling, blasting a giant hole through the roof as it continued to rise higher and higher until his eyes could no longer see it. His features contorted in anger as he faced the one who had swatted away his most powerful attack away like a fly.

Goku floated right in front of him, his pale nose but an inch from touching his green and crooked one. Goku's bleary and hollow eyes stared coldly into the larger protruding brown ones. "You killed my wife." He spoke coldly, his pupils fixed on the spider pattern of the large veins zig-zagging over the intruders pupils.

Despite the pain he was feeling, Gohan's eyes shot open at his father's sentence.

"... Mom?"

...

**Cliffhanger much? Peace out.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Don't own DBZ. **

...

Everything seemed to slow down around Gohan as he took in his father's words.

'_You killed my wife_.'

A simple statement of despair – one he'd heard so many times before. Some had whispered it with their last breaths; others had shouted it to the heavens and the never ending darkness.

Each time he'd heard it before though, Gohan had always been the aggressor, the murderer, the unflinching butcher from the skies. And all those times, _he _had been the one covered in another's blood, revelling in the kill like a wolf after a hunt.

He wasn't the hunter this time though, yet here he lay on the hard floor completely immobile - covered in another's blood. Only this time, the warm sticky substance was not that of a complete stranger's, it was the blood of his own mother; the life-line of the very being that had given him life. It was the same blood that coursed through his veins, now ebbing slowly out of the mother he had just found again.

'_Don't lose your head half-pint, if you aren't dead you'll live to go on another day.'_

Vegeta's words of many years ago on Planet Zagema rang through his head.

...

_Gohan sat at the table with a smug look on his face._

'There's no way he can beat me, I have him completely trapped on his side of the board - he cannot advance. I've got you licked this time Vegeta.'

_But the stoic mask that was Vegeta's face showed no sign of being beaten; it looked like he was trying to contain a chuckle._

_"Haha, you have me well and truly trapped don't you brat? You have me completely pinned; I bet in that head of yours you're giving yourself a pat on the back and a round of applause. Any sane man would concede defeat here, but no sane man has ever had to be put in a position where the pawns were real men. All with working minds, families, fears and worries," Vegeta droned on._

'Feh can't this fool ever admit defeat without giving me a story? I am older and more experienced now; blardy blah-blah. All hail the prince-midget. So on and so forth.'_ Gohan rolled his eyes as the prince continued his lecture._

_"But these are not real men, they are pieces of plastic and because of this I don't have to worry about what I am about to do," smiled Vegeta._

_As if pre-planned, Vegeta moved his pawns one at a time to face Gohan's. Each time he moved them, it ended in a stalemate between the opposing pieces. Little by little Vegeta's and Gohan's number of pieces dwindled down to but a few. Gohan had moved his King and Queen to the corner of the board, and had surrounded them with his four remaining pawns and a single knight. Vegeta had completely surrounded Gohan's pieces, with a few pawns and his King and Queen._

'How could this have gone so wrong? I had the upper hand! I was on the verge of victory and I damn near beat him!'

_"It seems you have learnt a lesson here Gohan, I concede," said Vegeta in a bored tone._

_"L-Lesson? I do not see what you have taught me here, other than to not become complacent when faced with certain victory," said a very confused Gohan._

_Vegeta chuckled. "Boy, look at the board, and instead of viewing these pieces as plastic novelties. View them as actual people. You have moved your king and queen into a certain doom and have surrounded them by pawns, or privates. You have kept only a singular experienced knight or sergeant to command them and keep himself alive."_

_Gohan crinkled his forehead. "So that move of yours was to thin out my numbers and make me panic?" He questioned, "But you lost as well. Not to question Saiyan ethics or anything, but…are effectively sending men to their deaths for there to be no ground gained?" He posed the question to himself more than to the prince. "Hmm…let's see…there's the same amount of casualties on the other side," Gohan observed._

_"You are correct, I gained no ground. But when you saw your troops fall you panicked over the wellbeing of your key pieces, you pulled everything back without thinking and made yourself an easy victim for an advancing enemy." Vegeta eyed him almost accusingly, though his voice was flat. "And as for sending men to their deaths," he shrugged. "Well you can either mull over it yourself or I can give you a question to help you with that thought," Vegeta continued with the same bored tone, but with a dazzle of surprise in his eyes._

_Gohan frowned. "I was taught how to read and write in eight different languages. I learnt how to decipher Standard in a week. I even rigged those old combat bots to fire real Ki instead of artificial energy, do you really think I need help?" he retorted arrogantly._

_"A man who boasts of his achievements and not his failures still has much to learn, and one who so willfully denies help is a foolish man. So I will answer your question with another. Gohan," he held his gaze, "is one man worth the same as a million?" quizzed Vegeta._

_Gohan opened his mouth to give Vegeta a cocky answer, but his mind caught him before his mouth let loose._

'Knowing Vegeta it won't be a straightforward answer, even if there is an answer at all. For a man who breaks skulls and conquers planets for a living, he can be quite the philosopher at times.'

_"Cat got your tongue? If you cannot answer a simple question then your prince demands two hours in the training room, and yes, we will be using the lethal Bots and you will have me to worry about as well." The prince concluded, reverting back to his usual self._

_Gohan regarded him wearily, _'Hmm…then again, most of the time he is beating me into the floor to reaffirm his dominance... he can be quite the enigma at times.'

…

_Hours later both Gohan and Vegeta were lying battered inside the training room. Both injured heavily with multiple burns, bruises and cuts covering them from head to toe._

_"Vegeta… I gotta question." Gohan groaned._

_A grunt was Vegeta's response._

_"What if that man… Is the reason that millions have perished?"_

_Vegeta groaned. "Stop trying to think out of the box. Is it right for you to send a million to their deaths, to take down one man?" His voice was laced with something hard and bitter._

_"Maybe?" Gohan clutched his side and made a face. Something was definitely broken there. Pain was shooting in multiple directions all over his torso. "Definitely, maybe," he concluded breathlessly._

_"You know for a supposed genius half-pint, you're pretty damn thick."_

_Gohan regarded Vegeta, though his face was indifferent, there was something…there…in his tone. "Wait… by 'one man' you mean Frieza don't you?" Gohan lazily asked as the gears began to spin out of the cobwebs. "And the millions being the Saiyan race?"_

_Vegeta resisted the urge to punch the wall, it seemed Gohan wouldn't answer his riddle properly but he saw no problem with answering the boy's question. "They charged at him foolishly, now look where they ended up." His eye twitched. "With only the four of us left."_

_"And he was never even taken down." Gohan concluded distastefully. "Wait a minute… You're just bidding your time, aren't you?" He asked with wide eyes. Freeza was an unbeatable monster, everyone knew that. Vegeta wasn't thinking of… was he?_

_The prince let out a small chuckle. "Like I said, millions have perished, but…the four of us still live on."_

_"So that analogy was right?" He stared at Vegeta, but the older man's face was a solid mask._

_Gah, Vegeta could be so annoying at times. Well…Was it? Or wasn't it?_

_Ignoring Gohan, Vegeta went on. "If a hundred men die for a single man, then remember that no matter how many fall afterwards - you will be avenging them. Because those hundred fell, the sacrifice of the next nine hundred thousand, nine hundred and ninety men is worth it. That is the Saiyan way. In the end, it'll be a bittersweet victory but don't doubt the fact that it is a victory. But at the same time, don't lose your head half-pint. If you aren't dead, you go on to live another day."_

_"What do you mean by that?" asked Gohan inquisitively._

_"I mean that I could've gone after Frieza the minute I found out the truth about what he'd done to our planet and met a quick death like the rest. Instead, years later, here I am – alive." He closed off the flicker of emotion from his face in an instant and gave Gohan a hard stare. "A dead man can't take revenge. Heed that advice and live longer."_

...

Small spasms made the tips of his fingers twitch uncontrollably as the remnants of the electro-tranq seeped in. Droplets of his mother's blood continued to fall on him from where she lay dangling in his father's arm as he held the green intruder in a murderous stare. And Gohan was still frozen to the spot, as sense of surrealism holding back the unexpected grief knocking furiously behind his heavily locked emotional doors.

"M-mommy," a barely audible cry rose out of the whisperings of a voice he barely recognised as that of his brother's. It occurred to him that it must be some kind of horrific shock, for one so innocent as Goten, to see his mother butchered like this so suddenly. But he couldn't think about the brat now, even though some foreign part of him found itself glad that the intruder had ran the tranq through him as well – this way, the boy wouldn't get himself killed by doing something stupid like attacking blind.

Despite the graveness of the situation, he still chuckled darkly - _seems like your advice was sound after all Vegeta. If this earthling brother of mine stays put, he will live to go on another day._

Perhaps he would also end up taking Vegeta's advice, not by choice, but rather due to weakness. He was such a pathetic weakling. Here was his mother – dead – because of him.

And what was he doing about it? Absolutely nothing.

He couldn't move in the slightest, he was completely incapacitated. How could he have let down his guard long enough for this happen? Like rapidly drying cement, he could feel the walls around his heart turning to stone.

A cough and a painful grunt came from across the wall. It sounded like something or someone was dragging themselves across the floor. "Mrs Son…no…" a shocked and anguished voice cried. Oh right. _Her_. He had clean forgotten about the presence of his father's student. He couldn't even be bothered to think about her now, not while his mother…

_"You know, a butterfly means change, and rebirth," informed Chichi, amiably. "I don't know what you could have gone through out there sweetie or how to change it. However, I'm just so happy to have you back, home."_

He had just started to warm up to the woman, and then all of a sudden… she had been ripped away. It didn't make sense. Death had never coming knocking at her door before, but the minute he had started getting close – it didn't just knock, it came barging in, claiming her life in an instant.

A phrase rang through Gohan's empty ears.

'_You'll never know what you have, until it's gone.'_

The barricade that had been created while they were separated had just begun to break down and now she was...

"No…not Mrs. Son…"

"M-Momma…"

His Earthling brother and his father's student continued to whimper in shock as the blood continued to drip-out of her, creating larger, darker and warmer puddles on his clothes.

He didn't understand where this ferocious knock of grief was coming from. Where was this sudden sense of loss and need coming from? Since when did he want to know what it was like to have a mother? Since when did a strong and proud Saiyan warrior yearn for a person who cared for him? A person who looked upon him with adoration and touched him with a loving hand?

Is this why his memories of this planet and of this family had been so painful to face? When did it happen? This need to be loved and accepted? Strength was what mattered. But he couldn't deny that he'd been easing into this cushy and simple life. Having a father and a mother that looked out for him as they taught him the ways of life… Vegeta had been close to a parent figure, but as he'd come to learn, the infinite love of a mother was unique. He could never open his heart freely to another, least of all Vegeta, as easily as he'd done with his mother.

And now he'd never have that opportunity again.

He blinked when he felt the ground tremble beneath him. The walls around them were shaking from the sheer hot energy dancing around his father. But Gohan could only shiver at the thought of what he'd brought upon his family. He felt like a little boy all over again, too helpless to do anything. Until about half way through his life he hadn't been able to purge an entire planet by himself.

It wasn't physical strength that had held him back - it had been his emotional weakness. He'd been too scared and too worried – too damn _soft_.

He wasn't so soft now.

He would gladly shove his hand in the intruder's mouth and rip out his entire spine in for his audacity. But he couldn't even do that, he was too pitiful and weak. He couldn't even command his own damn body to move.

…

Goku clobbered the alien in the face with a strong whack, before bringing his knee up to the alien's gut. He grabbed the tranq-gun from his hand and crushed it into fine dust. He didn't really know what it was, but it was obvious that it had somehow rendered his two sons immobile. He didn't have the time or inclination to stop and think. His rage was burning too hot, too fast.

The alien wasn't able to fight back, as blow after blow, hit after hit, he found himself on the receiving end of Goku's fury. It was inconceivable that this dirty Earthling was this strong. Even with the burden of the dead woman in his one arm, he was still unable to defend himself from the earthling's assault. Damn it! He was outclassed in speed _and _strength. What he needed was a distraction to buy himself enough time to use another trick of the trade.

He narrowly avoided a punch to his chest, before grabbing the assailing arm and attempting to throw it back. It was useless though; Goku's hand just twisted around and gripped his him. The bounty hunter cringed in pain, but he couldn't give in. He played on the only card he had left – the Earthling's emotions. Quickly he flung his arms and reached for the dead woman in the earthlings arms.

"Don't touch her!" Goku raged, snatching Chichi's body back. With a vicious kick, he sent the green alien sailing through the wall, past the trees and splat against the side of a distant mountain.

Trembling in anger, grief and shock, Goku took a time-out to gently lay Chichi down on the floor next to an injured Videl. Tentatively he ran his hand down her still face to close her eyelids. His adams apple moved up and down in pained devastation - he couldn't swallow this kind of grief. "Watch her Videl," he whispered softly. "I'll be back just now. Watch the boys as well while I take care of this guy."

Videl blinked back the sting of tears demanding to fall and nodded her head. She was in tremendous pain and hadn't been able to get back on her feet since the intruder smacked her into the wall. She willed herself to forget her physical injuries – there were more pressing matters to attend to. She had never had to deal with a dead body before - it was scary. She swallowed the pain and fear and pulled out her phone. It was time to call for help.

…

After crashing unceremoniously against the side of the mountain, the bounty hunter had used the unexpected but welcome time-out to push himself to his feet and gather some Ki. As as soon as he spied the earthling coming to finish him off, he released it and tossed it in his direction.

He was fully expecting it to send the earthling scum flying, after all - that was one of his strongest attacks. It was not to be though; before it even got close it was overcome by a stronger blue wave which was accompanied with some kind of nonsensical chant.

The wave of energy came crashing towards him, easily overpowering the tiny beam that he'd fired. Within seconds he was engulfed in a blaze of blue flames. He screamed as they engulfed him; burning he went crashing back against the side of the mountain. Goku appeared behind him and smashed a fist into his temple without hesitation.

"P-Plea…" the bounty hunter whimpered.

"You killed her!" Goku raged, smashing another fist into him. "You killed her, you killed her." Fist after fist he smashed the alien's face in.

"P-Please… S-Show M-Mercy."

"M-Mercy? How dare you? You killed my Chichi!"

A fist embedded itself in the alien's stomach. He coughed out blood and doubled over. How could this earthling be so strong? How could it hurt so much? He was the lone survivor of his planet. Whatever it took, he would not die on this pathetic rock. It was beneath him.

"I-I…didn't mean it. Honest!" he cried, willing his voice to sound sincere. He closed his eyes when he saw the earthling's fist approach again. "I'm sorry, I was forced to do it. But if you…" he heaved and spit out chunks of blood. "If you…spare me, I can bring her back to life…"

Huh? Goku blinked and held back his fist. Chichi…

_"All fun things, are you sure Goku?" she smiled with a twinkle in her eye._

His rage dropped down by an insignificant notch as he digested the hunter's words, something finally clicking in his mind. "With the dragon balls." Goku whispered. "You know of them?" He eyed the hunter, his fist still in position to strike.

The alien noted his hesitation and confusion and nodded quickly. '_I don't know what this guy's talking about, but he seems gullible. Perhaps I can make this work to my advantage.'_

"Yes, I have some in my ship. Here, I'll call it in right now and show you." he reached deep inside his clothes and pulled out a small device.

"In your ship? So you're from…outta space?" Goku glared him down. "What are you doing on this planet? Tell Me!" He suddenly grabbed the alien's shoulders and shook him. The last time someone had come from 'outta space,' they had stolen his son. Now this guy had killed his wife. He had no patience for aliens. He didn't care if he was supposed to be one himself. "Did you come here to steal my son, _again_?" Goku's eyes narrowed threateningly.

The bounty hunter sighed in relief when the earthling chose to glare instead of moving to prevent him from pressing down on the device he now held in his hand. Heh…he could taste victory and riches already. Such a delectable taste.

"Steal him?" His voice lost its fake pleading tone and grew cocky as he pressed down long and hard on a button. "Fool," he spat in contempt. "I came to kill him. Hah hah hah hah!" He laughed maniacally as he pointed the device up in the air.

Goku frowned when a flock of birds which had been happily flying around, suddenly drop dead from the sky following the press of that button. He didn't get a chance to ponder what was going on because he immediately felt it.

"W-What is this?" He asked as his hair suddenly began to flash back to black without any instigation from his part. "I thought you were calling in your ship with the dragon balls! I thought you said you were going to bring Chichi back to life!" He grabbed the alien viciously, now that he had confessed his intentions to kill Gohan, he was going to end him here and now.

Only… what was happening to his energy?

"Gullible Fool." The bounty hunter mocked, giving Goku a vicious shove that knocked him off his shaky legs and down to his knees. "Now you can bow before me… You dirty little pest."

He sneered as he rose to his feet, his bulging eyes pulsating with purpose. "So that Saiyan bastard is your son is he? Well, well, well…this job just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter. I'm here to collect his head. Too bad, that you just had to interfere."

"What did…what did you do?" Goku felt like the very essence of him was being sucked out. He tried to push out more energy but it just kept disappearing on him.

"I guess that explains why you were able to hurt me. It would have been embarrassing if you turned out to be just another dirty little Earthling. Good thing you're so gullible. The only way I was able to activate my Ki negation field was by tricking you. To think I had to trick an Earthling monkey to defeat him..." his face contorted in disgust. "I will not tolerate such an insult! You _will_ pay!"

Goku clutched his chest. '_Wha…What's happening to me?'_ He thought as he fell down.

"You see the more energy you try to summon, the stronger my device gets," he clicked his fingers in demonstration. "The more it's stolen from you. Heh… the bonus is that it hurts like a mother-fucker at the same time," he grinned wickedly. "The only way to avoid the pain is to suppress your Ki. I'll give you a friendly warning though, if you do that, you stand no chance against me," he chuckled.

Not heeding the alien's advice, Goku continued to try to power up. The pain increased more and more as crackles of energy began to appear around him. With a mighty yell Goku, pushed as much power as he could through his body. And just as it reached its climax, it vanished - just like that - in an instant.

He felt depleted; all his energy – gone.

He clutched his heart as he doubled over in pained agony. Coughing out blood, the earth-raised Saiyan willed his body to stand up once more. He had to get up, he would die before he let this monster that killed his wife get-away.

The bounty-hunter frowned; he had never seen anyone resist the negator like this. This was not good. He had to end this quickly before the effects of the tranq on the target wore off.

Those Saiyans were a tenacious bunch. They're physiology was one big pain in the ass. They seemed to recover faster than other species. Time was no longer on his side. Acting quickly, he cocked back a fist and nailed Goku hard in the stomach, causing him to stagger and fall face first into the dirt. He stepped over him, a big power hungry grin plastered on his face as he blasted the body of the great Saiyan with numerous Ki blasts.

…

Gohan cursed. This was ridiculous. His father was stronger than anyone he knew! He should have finished with that green bug in seconds. Why wasn't he back yet?

It irked him that the fight had taken to the mountain, he couldn't be sure of what was going on per say. From the corner of his eye he could hear and see flashes of pink energy going wild. Pink? He wasn't too familiar with his father's combat skills, but pink didn't seem to fit.

Pushing back the unbearable weight in his chest at the thought of his mother, he tested out his fingers again. '_Fuck!'_

Still nothing, he was still a worthless vegetable.

Worse still, he was stuck here with the Earth girl and his brother – just worthless. "Stop that!" He snapped, yelling at Goten. The boy hadn't stopped crying and frankly he couldn't take his whimpering for one more second. It wasn't helping the situation. "You too!"He barked at Videl. "Stop coddling the brat and do something useful!"

Videl winced at the sharp tone. She was barely keeping it together. After making her call for help, she had dragged herself on the floor and pulled down a seat cover from the lounge. Gently she had covered Mrs Son's body with it, thinking that it would be better for Goten.

The little boy had been crying non-stop, calling out for his mother. Unable to sit around waiting, she had scrambled over to him and held him.

"Don't you dare yell at him you insensitive brute, he's just a child. A child that just lost his mother!" she yelled back, furious with this ass of a boy as she held Goten closer to her. She had just found out that he was Goku's son this very afternoon, but she still didn't know where he had come from all of a sudden. His cold indifference to Mrs. Son's death was proof that he was probably Goku's son from a previous marriage. "For your information while you've been lying there twitching, I called for help. Don't preach to me about being useful."

"Help?" Gohan chuckled darkly. "You think some human emergency force is going to be of any use against this guy? Don't be stupid." He dismissed. "Find a source of electrical energy and electrocute me. I need to shock my body back into action."

Videl could only gape at him in shock. '_Find him…what?'_

From the corner of his eye, Gohan could spy some dark smoke coming from the battle ground. '_Come on dad, what's taking you so long?'_

"Don't just sit around staring girl, find something I can use now!" He yelled, cursing at himself inwardly. He had been so caught up in his stupid emotions that he'd forgotten that a quick run of electrical current could counter the effects of the tranq. His father was taking too long, he needed to-

Too late. A shadow was already looming above him.

"So… Gohan, elite warrior of the crumbled monkey race… How does it feel?"

Gohan froze. It was impossible that this bastard had gotten past his father.

"How does it feel murderer," the alien continued, "to see your bitch of a mother killed before your eyes? Oh yes, your late father was very informative. Seems the long-lost son returned heh heh heh. So you're a half-breed after all. Pitiful."

"What did you do to my daddy?" Goten yelled between tears. Videl cursed her weakness, a horrible ball of lead forming in her stomach. Did this mean that her sensei was…

"Patience brat, you're next." The bounty hunter dismissed him with a smirk before turning his eyes back down to Gohan. "Can you feel it yet? The desperation? Can you feel that rage bottling up inside you?" He let his zig-zagged eyes roam over Gohan's stoic face. "Yes, your trying to hide it, but…your face says you feel it. Good." His face twisted in spite. "Now you feel what I felt. Do you even remember half-breed? The day you and your filthy prince swarmed our planet and killed my family _and race?"_

Gohan ignored the loud gasp of shock that erupted from the earth-girl's mouth. It was none of her business. His attention wasn't even on the talking freak either. He was too busy feeling the beginnings of something in his fingers. '_Heh…looks like I won't need to run electricity through my system after all. Just keep on talking ugly, buy me all the time I need.'_

"I was only sixteen," the bounty hunter continued his tale. "Sixteen and left to carry the burden of an exterminated , feast your eyes Saiyan, for here I am – an interplanetary bounty hunter. I hope you're proud of your creation." His voice hardened. "Because I certainly am. It has given me the perfect opportunity to get my revenge… and more."

'_Bingo.'_

With a ferocious battle cry, Gohan savagely launched himself at the bounty-hunter, fist steadily raised. With a quick sucker punch he knocked the hunter and sent crashing through the wall. The momentum sent him flying and with a loud thud, the hunter fell against a tree, taking it down with him. Gohan cracked his knuckles and rotated the muscles of his neck.

'_Now_ w_hat the… A bounty-hunter?'_

It didn't make any sense. Why? Why now? He wasn't a deserter. He was here on mission per Freeza's wish. Was it because he was warming up to-

"Watch out!" The earthling girl and his brother screamed simultaneously even as he quickly dodged the Ki-blast that was thrown at him. It went sailing past him, completely incinerating the dining room table they had all been eating on. Swiftly Gohan retaliated with a quick one of his own, following it outside as it sailed to the hunter's location.

He just didn't get it… Why was his name up for assassination? Why would Freeza do this to him? It wasn't as though anyone else would dare put money on his name.

He pushed his thoughts aside and phased before the hunter. With practiced skill he blocked an incoming punch to his cheekbone before hammering the hunter away. He quickly phased behind him, and held his hand out in a clothesline, which made perfect contact with the hunter 'skull.

Furious that the tranq had already lost its effect, the bounty hunter steadied himself in mid-air and once again reached out for his trusted remote. Laughing; he pushed the button and released the invisible field. The effects hit Gohan immediately.

'_Darn it Gohan how sloppy have you become? You let him use a negator on you – idiot! Those abominable negation fields are popular with cowardly bounty hunters. You know this!_ '

But these chastising thoughts came a little too late after the effect. Just like his father before him, Gohan began to weaken and fall down. His whole body began to tremble as he tried to summon power.

The bounty-hunter began to laugh maniacally as he watched Gohan begin his struggle against the negator. This was it. Finally he had his prize.

'_Alright Gohan, you know the theory behind this technology. Just…power down nice and easy.'_ The thought ran through his mind cloaked in Vegeta's voice.

It was impossible to quantify how low he'd have to go, but as the hunter continued to roar out in laughter, his huge bug-like eyes filling with unsightly veins, Gohan used this opportunity and continued to push hi Ki lower and lower, until finally it reached a level that was too low to gain detection on the negator. He knew right away when he hit it – for all of a sudden, there was no more pain.

He couldn't sense Ki like his father, so he had no idea of how powerful this bastard was. No matter, he was still going to pummel him into the dirt. No opportunistic bug was going to best him in skill.

Crossing his arms over his face, he began to slowly channel bits of Ki. He had to be careful, lest he push out too much. He didn't want to trigger the negator.

"It's hopeless Saiyan. Give up now and I promise I'll give you a long and painful death!" The alien roared in hostile laughter.

Gohan chuckled. "Heh…give up to a weakling like you? As if."

"We'll see about that!" The hunter attempted to launch a punch, but Gohan managed to evade it in the nick of time, but the follow up knee passed through his defences and caught him deep in the gut. Gohan doubled over, writhing in pain. With his Ki so low, he'd felt the full effects of the hunter's strength. Taking a page out of another soldier of Frieza's book, Gohan bit down hard on the hand which was still within his grasp. He quickly retreated and jumped backwards, managing to steady himself in the air with a little bit of luck.

With a cocky smirk he spat out. "Figures, your backwater species tastes like shit. No wonder we killed you off, we were doing our chef's a favour!"

The veins on the hunter's forehead pulsed in anger at the remark. This just made Gohan smirk in triumph. '_Heh maybe Nappa's right, I am starting to sound a bit like Vegeta.'_

"Shut-up you stupid monkey! I'm not done with you, you'll pay for that!" The hunter roared.

Without any hesitation he launched a read Ki-beam at Gohan which hit him smack on the shoulder. Gohan's face dimpled in pain; blood was dripping out from the wound, and it hurt – a lot. He bit the inside of his cheek and tried to move it – big mistake. With a pained grunt, he let it hang limply by his side, not having the will to fight against the pain.

"Not so confident now are we? Stupid fool! I told you from the beginning, you never had a chance! I trained, plotted and schemed for eight years for this one. But your lord Frieza," he spat out the name bitterly, "made this conquest too easy by making you an enemy of the Empire. Not only will I get my revenge, but I'll get rich from it hah hah hah." His eyes almost doubled in size as his laughter roared through the mountains. "You might wanna think about that next time you decide to purge a planet. Oh wait… there won't be a next time!"

"Heh, I wouldn't bet on that. If I die, I'll meet the rest of your race in hell. And then _murder _them again."

"Screw you, you bastard." The hunter went straight for the injured shoulder. He rammed his foot right into the open wound.

"Ahh!" Gohan screamed, still he used his good arm to grab the foot and with all the strength he could master, and pushed the hunter back.

That didn't set the hunter back though, with his two big eyes, he began to channel two twin-beams. He fired directly into Gohan's chest, tearing through fabric and skin. Blood pooled into two ovals as Gohan spat out more blood from his mouth and smirked.

"Is that the best you can do? First you paralyse me with your cowardly toy, second you take away my Ki. Third you…what was that by the way? Was that ugly light from your eyes supposed to hurt me? Pathetic." He mocked, just as he phased out to appear behind the hunter. He locked his hands and clobbered him on the head.

"What is this? How are you still standing? You should have no energy left. Just give up already! Let me kill you so you can join your useless father!" The hunter roared.

'_Dad…'_

He hadn't stopped to contemplate his father's fate. It couldn't be…he just couldn't be dead! Did he fall to the negator? His Ki as a Super Saiyan would have been at an astronomical level. Is that why? Did he continue to power-up, depleting himself, even as he felt it all being zapped away? Did he? '_Damn it dad! How could you fall for such a cheap trick?'_

The hunter, not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth, took this opportunity to smash his fist into Gohan's face, breaking his nose. He quickly snapped a knee up into the adolescent's groin and kicked him away, reappearing behind him with his fist sticking out. He executed a perfect clothesline, which sent Gohan sprawling to the floor.

He jumped down and landed with one foot on Gohan's chest.

"Give up yet?" he asked with a venomous tone.

Stepping back he began to charge up a beam of Ki. This would be the final one, after today the Saiyan race would have one less bastard to call their own.

"It's funny…that dark-haired woman I killed in the house, she was your mother correct? Imagine, the mighty Saiyans, inter-breeding with worthless humans. Heh…how the mighty have fallen. No matter, it's quiet poetic that first the mother, then the father and now…the long-lost son, will all die in the same manner."

'_Mum…Dad… I did this. My presence in your life led this low-life here.'_

As the hunter continued to charge up his attack, Gohan failed to keep the ferocious knock of grief from bursting through his emotional doors.

_"Come on son, I'm sure it has been ages since you had any proper food, and I think your mother, and little brother would like to meet you properly," said Goku offering Gohan a hand and a smile._

Even after trying to kill him, the man had taken his hand, accepted him as a son and never looked back. The grief wasn't just knocking, it was down-right pounding. He had never felt this…this heaviness in his heart before. All his life, it had always been about survival, strength and survival, but this feeling…

_"Mum, is it safe here?" He pondered whilst she let of a soft chuckle._

_"Of course it is; the most dangerous creatures on this planet are you, Piccolo and your father. This planet is otherwise peaceful. Sure it has conflict on it, but the conflict on it won't cause us harm." Chichi chirped offering her hand to him. "Take my hand now, let me show you more."_

It pounded through him, loud and demanding. He knew the pain from the shoulder was there somewhere, but as this feeling continued to mount, the physical pain seemed to move further and further away from him.

'_They didn't deserve to die because of my mistakes!'_

"Well, this is it Son Gohan," the alien finished charging his attack. "Any last words? Any other relatives I can trample on when I finish with you? Some friends perhaps? I know, I'll start with the duo of short ones from the house."

Gohan's blood froze. The pounding of grief halted, as an immediate fury overcame him. '_Goten…Videl…NO!'_

He hadn't given his brother the time of day, and he hardly cared for the girl, but… he'd be damned if he let this bug lay a hand on that which had been so cherished by his parents.

"Come on, Son Gohan… Just say it. Say 'I give up' and I might be persuaded not to torture them…much…heh heh."

The thought of his brother, his brother with his angelic face - the face of his father. The thought of him left at the mercy of this vengeful lunatic made something snap inside him. His body began to tremble.

"Mnn…maybe I'll take the male with me. Come to think of it, his face closely resembles that of your dead father. Bingo. He must be another half-breed. I didn't realise that this planet was busy breeding little Saiyan terrors. I'll have to tear his eyes out and make sure that he never sees the light of day…get it…heh heh heh"

'_No! I will not let this happen! Never… will I let him go through any harm! I know how much he meant to you: mum… dad …I swear to you - I will protect Goten with everything I have!'_

With an iron-fist resolve, Gohan's fury exploded. It blew his emotional doors wide open as his irises turned snow-white. All restraints broke as his power soared, a pale aura engulfing him.

The wide-eyed hunter clumsily tossed his attack at the rising Saiyan. With a loud scream Gohan's hair turned blood-red as he rose higher and higher into the air. His Ki erupting, even as the negator began to greedily suck it out of him, he slapped the beam away and lunged for the hunter's clothes. He ripped him off his body and before the last bit of energy was zapped out of him, he blasted the damn negator to kingdom-come.

The hunter's eyes bulged out of his skull as he took a step back.

"_Enough games._" Gohan growled.

…

**Authors Notes: First off, clap your hands for the beta of this chapter. The legendary Gue22, needless to say half the awesomeness would not be present without her help.**

**This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son and DevilsDoCry.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own Dragon Ball Z.**

**Chapter 10**

* * *

><p>The released floodgates left the Ki rushing towards him. He could feel everything that had been suppressed and more. But now was not the time to contemplate on how that was possible… No. Now was the time to get revenge, to take vengeance.<p>

This hunter had taken it too far, he took his _own_ family into it; a family that he had just regained. Not only had the bastard taken _his_ mother from him, but _his_ father as well. The pure agony Gohan felt in his heart, the pure despair… it had just driven him off the edge when the hunter mentioned his little brother.

He cupped both hands to his side and let out a primal roar.

"You will pay for this!" The half-Saiyan gritted his teeth before screaming as he began to charge up Ki within his hands.

* * *

><p>"V-Videl… what's big brother doing?" Goten asked curiously, the effects of the tranq had worn off and the two of them had braved peeking out the house onto the action unfolding. "What happened to his hair? It's all red!"<p>

The human girl shivered, and hugged the small boy to her chest. "I'm not sure Goten… I'm not sure."

"Is big brother going to be okay?" A sobbing Goten asked, "Where's Daddy? I'm scared!" He cried. Videl gently stroked his back. She scooped the little boy up in her arms and held him. "I should go out there and fight!" He declared with a shaky voice.

"No Goten," Videl insisted. "Your brother will take care of this. Just stay here. It's going to be alright, it's gonna be all right." She ruffled his hair. "I'm sure they'll be fine." She said with a forced smile. It was so forced and painful that she'd be willing to bet his little brain could see right through it.

This was horrible! She had never really gotten to know Chichi all that well, at most they were close acquaintances, but now she was gone. At first Videl had idolized the infamous martial artist Son Chichi before she had gotten to learn of just how her life had turned out to be. She was shocked to discover what Chichi did on a day-to-day basis. The world's greatest female fighter reduced to being a simple housewife… This scared Videl, very much so. If that was Chichi's future, what would be hers? At times it almost felt as if she had no say in the matter, that her destiny was already written.

Even though she was born to 'The Strongest Man Under the Suns,' – she still laughed at that pun- it felt as if she was going to end up settling down and being rid of her fighting career. Her father had often wanted a son instead of a daughter; he held onto the sexist view that all girls were weak and fragile beings. It had taken a lot of crime fighting and crooks to prove otherwise to him. Initially when she started crime fighting, Videl wanted her father's recognition more than anything. The publicity, the fame, the fortune and the 'morally correct' aspect of it were all just added bonuses. As time passed she began to start doing it, because it was the right thing to do.

But she suddenly learned that it wasn't that easy, it never was. Instead of taking on half-way crooks and little bandits, she found herself taking on entire crime syndicates. After a few near-death incidents, she winded up at the Son's place seeking training. It wasn't hard to figure out which were the better martial art styles. The famous Turtle Style, made by the Turtle Hermit himself. But most of all she needed a teacher, an instructor who wouldn't treat her differently because of her father.

She wanted to avoid special treatment as much as possible.

Naturally she was very interested in learning about the Turtle Style and had immediately set about to find the legendary Master Roshi. Sadly she only managed to draw blanks, but having a look at some of the tapes form awhile back, it had only taken her seconds to recognise the student as : Mr Monkey Tail himself, Son Goku. From there on, she found out that he had proposed to another martial artist, the Ox king's daughter; Chichi.

Chichi was by no means a famous martial artist. She was a first timer at the tournament, but had made it all the way to the semi's – only female to ever get that far – to date. As far as public records went, Chichi was there one day and simply not the next. She no longer had anything to do with the Ox-Kingdom. She didn't appear with her father, and she wasn't at any events, be it a royal one or a mere press conference.

She delved a little deeper, further back. Where would Chichi go?

Videl had found a little piece somewhere mentioning that the legendary martial artist, Son Gohan was his guardian. With that name in mind she tried to find a link between the two. Suddenly it was obvious…

The Ox-King and Son Gohan had both trained under Master Roshi!

From there it wasn't hard to figure out where the couple had lived. What better place to disappear to than his guardian's residence out in the mountains? Son Gohan's place was quite easy to find, he didn't keep the address under locks. He'd lived in the 439 mountain area for a long time, he owned a hefty piece of property there. Luckily enough for Videl, her hunch had been corret, Goku and Chichi had moved back to Goku's old home. The martial arts couple were living there with their seven year old son, Goten.

Goku had vigorously agreed to train her, after hearing her reasons; although she doubted she needed to state them anyway. He'd understood that Videl didn't like getting special treatment and that she needed training to better herself, especially given the line of work she had chosen. She still didn't understand what her late teacher had meant, but he'd said that there was a fire burning in her eyes that needed to be fuelled. Some sort of pure determination, which had him roped.

He was a good man, and his wife was a good woman… but why? Why did they die? What kind of an asshole would take such innocent people away from the world? She gritted her teeth as she saw the hunter fire an energy beam at Gohan, who had just fired his.

Urgh! Gohan – to have that ass as the last line of defence in this insane catastrophe! That boy just rubbed her the wrong way. He'd begun by acting like an ass-hole. He was rude, arrogant and the works. How he was related to Goku, was definitely beyond her. Granted, she'd only known him for a little while, but he seemed completely different to Goku. There would be the occasional spark of similarity, but that's about it. The boy seemed like he didn't care about the Son family, to Videl it seemed as if all he'd cared about was getting stronger. Taking what he could from his father and then chucking it straight back in his face later. That made sense in a way, he must have some held some grudge about Goku leaving his mother to start a new family with Chichi, and after all they wouldn't send _their_ own son away for a long time. It was puzzling… Perhaps his relationship with Goku was awkward and complicated.

But the way he went about it… he was a total jerk. He made it clear to his little brother that he didn't care about him. Weird that he was acting all nice and cuddly with Chichi though, she was the other woman after all. But Videl didn't want to have any off it. Goten was an adorable boy, and Gohan had no right to vent out his frustrations about his parents on him.

What it was is - he was just plain insensitive. Rude. An ass.

But now Videl could see that buried deep down and within; there lies some emotion. His brilliant golden aura said that much… It was like a fire which had suddenly been brought to life. Despite his other attributes, she could _feel_ his rage. She could tell he cared, he truly did.

* * *

><p>Overcome with emotion and rage, Gohan continued to pour Ki into his energy blast. His aura flickered, before expanding. With a mighty yell he pushed the energy he needed into the blast. It collided straight on with the bounty-hunter's blast and simply over powered it until it engulfed the green being.<p>

Gohan turned around shocked to find something coming at him. How could he have survived that? Had he missed? What met his eyes however nearly scared the life out of him, a Ki-blast was coming straight at him? _That bastard!_ He was going to strike him from behind! Gohan let out a warrior's roar as his mighty aura flared around him once again.

"You bastard! I've had enough of this! Die! _Now!" _He cupped his hands beside his hip and screamed. "Galic Gun… _Fire!_" He released the build-up of purple energy in his hands. A ruthless wave of purple overcame the weaker green one within mere moments. It instantly incinerated the alien, who was unable to dodge in time.

Powering down, Gohan let out a small chuckle, and wiped the blood trickling down his forehead.

"Phew… It's over."

**Authors Notes: Kaka in and out…**

**Till next time.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star doesn't own Dragonball**

**Chapter 11**

What she had found was sickening.

Smoke was still coming from the numerous burns and lacerated perforations scattered all over his body. Only half his face remained, and it was...a gush of bile rose rapidly up her throat. Tears stung the back of her eyes as she turned away from the gruesome sight, thank Kami she had come looking for him alone. If Goten saw this, it would destroy him. At least his mother's body was somehow still - whole. But this...she swallowed down a gag, her eyes landing on a piece of flesh that seemed to be melting away from his cheek. This...this she had to keep Goten from seeing.

She had instructed him to carry his brother back to the house. Seemingly the battle had taken its toll on him, because as soon as it was over, he had staggered towards the house. Three or four steps later, and he'd crumpled to the floor - passing out. She had instructed Goten to run along and bring him inside while she ran off in the direction Goku and the green intruder had gone.

She didn't really know what to do. She was so unprepared for this situation, she had called for help. So where the hell where they? She wanted Goku's remains removed as soon as possible.  
>It was only through the remnants of his clothes and boots, coupled with the knowledge that he had fought here just a short while ago, that made her accept that in fact, this horrible set of remains had once been her sensei.<p>

She didn't really have anything she could use to cover him up with. On hindsight, she should have brought a sheet from the house or something, but...she started to unbutton her shirt. It was rather small, she wasn't large by any stretch of the imagination, it would not cover all of him, but at least...

"Wha...?" Her fingers froze mid-way down her chest, her eyes widening in horrified disbelief. She blinked rapidly, doing a 360 degree turn with her feet and sweep with her eyes around the spot, but...there was...his body was...right before her eyes it had just...disappeared. Springing into defensive mode, she fell gracefully into her stance and tried to do her best to open her senses like Goku had taught her the other day.

Was there someone else out here? Someone fast enough to snatch up Goku's body faster than her eyes could see? It was possible. If there was one thing she'd learned since meeting her sensei - it was that anything, absolutely anything at all was possible. Just look at how today had turned out? With the hairs on the back of her neck standing in startled attention Videl swept the area as much as she could, but she couldn't pick out anything. Which didn't say much considering she was hardly an expert at the technique.

Did that green guy come with an accomplice? Is he out there right now, shielded by the forest, deliberately trying to fuck with me? She thought wearily as she combed the area with her eyes.

But the forest was unnaturally quiet, not even a mouse dared to stir. As if on cue, just to startle her, a loud whop...whop...whop...reverberated through the air. She knew that sound well; she was very familiar with the distinct sound of a helicopter's blades beating the air into submission. Finally, she sighed. Finally help was coming.

Her eyes fluttered back to the empty spot before her, and the knowledge that help was almost here, did nothing to assuage the panic still gripping her from the mystery of the missing body.  
>Once more, she blinked several times to clear her vision, but the spot on which Goku's bloody and tattered body had been, lay empty with clotted blood stains alone- his body was still missing.<p>

"Did you find him? Did you find my dad?" Goten came racing through the clearing.

"I...I..." Videl stuttered. What could she say? One minute it was here and the next it was gone. "I'm sorry Goten, but your dad...he didn't make it." She knelt down before him and gripped his shoulders. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't believe you!" Goten shrugged out of her embrace. "I don't believe you! My dad is the strongest man in the world. There is no way he could be killed by that...that..." His words caught in his throat as he tried to cast a net with his senses. He knew how to sense people but his range was not very good. "Dad! Dad!" He suddenly dashed into the clutter of trees, "Dad! Dad!" he cried, as he delved in deeper, hoping to find, at worst a wounded or unconscious Goku.

"Goten wait!" Videl followed after him. How was she supposed to explain about his father's body? How? To a seven year old? She didn't even have an explanation to assuage herself. "Goten, come back, we need to stay here. Help is on the way. Your brother will need a doctor!" She tried running after him, but her injuries wouldn't let her make any decent progress.

She clutched her sides, pain searing through her intercostal muscles. She had forgotten about her ribs and the damage to her shoulder from being tossed into the wall. She suspected that she had sustained some kind of head injury at the back as well. She was in desperate need of a doctor herself. Her breath was laboured, and spots were beginning to dance before her eyes.

But she couldn't give in to pain and unconsciousness before she found Goten. Before she saw to Mrs Son's remains, and despite her dislike for Gohan, yes, him too. She had to make sure that he was taken to the hospital. Only then, she thought, straightening up to pursue Goten further. Only then would she succumb to her injuries.

* * *

><p>"Ouw! Ouw! Ouuuuuw!" the medic howled in pain as Gohan opened his eyes, instinctively gripping the hand that was touching him, twisting it and throwing it back.<p>

"Easy there pal!" The voice came from a man dressed in a fluorescent-blue jumpsuit with a pair of retroreflective stripes running down its length. He was holding some kind of needle in his hand, which immediately made Gohan suspicious. He leapt to his feet, ripping off the elastic bands that were supposed to be tying him in place and gripped the paramedics hand. His face contorting in pain, the medic lost his grip on the needle.

"Who the hell are you?" Gohan sneered at him. A quick sweep with his eyes alerted him to the enclosed space of his moving environment. He wasn't familiar with all the equipment inside it, but he could easily make out ventilators, intubators, syringes and a host of drug looking contraptions. This was obviously some kind of primitive earthling medical transportation. "What did you with Goten and the earth-girl?" He gripped the man's hand tighter.

"Ah! D-Don't..." The paramedic whimpered. "I don't know who you're talking about!"

"My brother and the girl, where are they?" He raised his voice impatiently. "They were right there in the house, with my mother's b-b...my mother's body." He forced himself to say it.

"If you're talking about Miss Satan, she was still missing when we loaded you up. The woman was taken to the morgue and the boy...the little boy stayed behind with Ms Briefs and some of her friends."

"Ms who?" Gohan scowled, already moving towards the rear doors of the moving vehicle.

"Ms Bulma Briefs, she showed up on the scene with some other people who claimed to be friends of the family. You were badly injured, so we had take you right a-awaaay...ah!" He cried out as Gohan kicked the doors open and jumped out the back, with his wrist still entrapped in his hand. "We're gonna...dieeeeee!" He wailed as they fell out into the air. He closed his eyes and regretted not making love to his wife that morning. If only he'd known that he was going to die today. "Ahhhhhhhh!" he continued to scream as they sailed through the air, he didn't even notice that they were flying, not dropping.

"Shut-up!" Gohan barked irritably, promptly knocking him out with a small tap to the back of his neck.

* * *

><p>A round space-pod crashed down upon Earth's atmosphere. Within mere seconds it struck the ground and left a small crater in its wake.<p>

The small spherical object was white in colour and had several imperfections along its coat. A few dents and numerous scratches. There was an odd crest placed towards the top of the pod.

Light growling could be heard, as a small man stepped out. He wore a blue spandex body-suit and a white chest plate which had a small golden portion towards the bottom.

He flexed his gloved hands, before wiping them across his forehead; the sweat and dust dirtying his white gloves.

He stuck out a leg and stretched it before, sighing to himself.

"Now… where the hell are you half-pint?" A hoarse voice asked, while raising a finger or two towards the pink coloured scouter covering his right eye.

He adjusted the lens, before pressing a button on the side of the scouter.

While the scouter loaded information, he took a moment to clear his head.

'_I wonder if the damn brat's got any clue of the danger he's in… Stupid fucking Frieza… Not only is Gohan in trouble, but Raditz and Nappa are now gone. At this rate… There'll be no Saiyans left. I've got to watch his hide, at least until I have some offspring…'_

Having loaded the information the scouter beeped, giving him several coordinates.

He shook his head and resisted the urge to snap the damn thing. Where the hell was the brat? There were several large yet-still-tiny power levels, but there was no large difference in them. At most the difference was one to two thousand.

The man could tell that something was definitely wrong. Gohan's power level should have easily made a mere one of 5,000 look insignificant, yet the numbers varied from a pitiful 200 to a still pitiful 5,011.

Perhaps Frieza had gotten to the brat already… perhaps he was dead… perhaps he was hanging onto life by just a thread. If Gohan was on Earth, he was almost certainly in a critical state.

For his Ki to be so low… meant that he was in trouble.

Locking onto the lowest of the higher power levels, the man did not waste a single second as he blasted through the sky towards the power level.

* * *

><p>"Goten!" Her footsteps were heavy now. "Goten, where are you?" She called out within the thickness of the trees, only her voice had lost its volume somewhere down the line. It was a mere rasp now, just a useless burden on her throat.<p>

"Goten," she pushed a cluster of leaves away from her face. It was no use, no use. She didn't know how much time had passed, it felt like hours, but perhaps it had only been a few minutes. Who knew? She was in poor shape now, her mind far from clear. She just knew that she had to find him; he was an orphan now, poor kid. And she had no idea if the Sons had any other family who could take him in. Certainly his ass of a brother could not be counted on. He barely tolerated the kid. She had to find him and bring her with him to safety, it was the least she could do for Goku and Mrs Son.

"G-Goten? W-Where are you?" She pushed a few steps forward, branches scratching at her skin, clusters of leaves impeding her fading vision. It didn't matter how long it had been, how much time had passed. The main thing was - she couldn't find Goten, not anywhere. And the painful truth was that - she couldn't go on. Not deeper into the thickness of the trees to pursue him further, nor back in the direction she'd come, where the helicopters, where help would have landed long ago.

She couldn't go any further; her body was at its limit. She placed her weight against the coarse trunk of a nearby tree for support. In and out, in and out, her breath came out hitched and choppy. With the sleeve of her shirt, she swiped at the moisture gathered on her forehead as she bit down on her bottom lip. She felt the sting as her teeth sank into her soft flesh, along with the coppery taste of blood, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep her awake.

As she lost consciousness, she began to fall face first onto the choppy grass laden with coarse bark, hard cones and sharp thorns.

"Stupid Earthling" A throaty voice grunted, just as her face connected with a much smoother, much warmer surface than that of the cone and thorn ridden ground.

* * *

><p>They didn't trust him. That much was obvious.<p>

He recognized the bald headed one and the one with the scar under his eye. Yeah, these were the duo that had fought alongside his father the day he had arrived on Earth. So sure, he was willing to buy their story, that they were in fact 'friends' of the family. He'd also met a blue headed woman when he'd landed on Earth, but whether or not she was the one who was weeping before him was anyone's guess. There were a plethora of blue haired people on Earth; he'd seen that much when he almost took the scar faced one's car. And as for the three-eyed freak, he definitely wouldn't have forgotten him if they'd met before.

Goten was still holding onto his hand. It still knocked him off his feet, the trust and faith the boy had bestowed in him. He certainly didn't deserve it or understand it for that matter, considering how he'd always treated him. But Goten wasn't bothered at all, as soon as he'd landed, paramedic in tow, Goten had launched himself into his arms and sobbed.

"What about Ox King?" Bulma suggested as a last resort. This Gohan was being so obstinate, insisting on keeping Goten with him. What did he even know about taking care of a child? It was ridiculous. "We wanted to tell him about Chichi face to face, but we could always call him."

"I vaguely remember him," Gohan said. It was true that he knew of his grandfather, but within this short span of his return, he hadn't had the chance to meet him. He had vague memories of a large man with a booming voice, but as far as he concerned, Goten was the only family that was worth holding onto to. He didn't really care for any of these other people that claimed to be 'family members and friends.'

"It's not about you!" Bulma lost what patience she had left. "It's about Goten, and he knows his grandpa just fine. You cannot whisk him off into space!"

"The boy goes with me, end of discussion!" He glared at her, silencing her as she began to interrupt. "I have to leave as soon as possible to get to the bottom of this bounty crap, and I refuse to leave him behind in the hands of such weaklings. If someone else comes looking for my head, they might just be content to take his instead. I will. not. let. that. happen."

"In a few weeks, we'll have gathered all seven dragon balls." Krillin reiterated. "Once Goku's back he'll..."

"Enough about these dragon balls. Enough with this nonsense about resurrecting the dead… I'm taking Goten and that's the end of it. Try to stop me, if you're feeling brave." He challenged with narrowed slits. Beside him, Goten sniffed and rubbed his eyes, but he made no move to let go of his hand. He still didn't understand how something so small and fragile could shatter all the walls he'd had around his heart.

"Is Videl gonna come too?" Goten enquired.

Gohan stared down at him in disbelief. What on earth would give him that idea? It had been his bleary pleading eyes when the search parties had come back empty that had finally convinced him to go sniffing her out in the forest. Stupid girl should have known better than to go chasing after a Saiyan. As if Goten with his sharpened senses could get lost in his own backyard. No matter that it was hundreds of acres of lush forest.

It hadn't been difficult to trace her, her scent had been everywhere. Filling his senses and driving him crazy. It was just as well that she'd been injured and unconscious, that way he didn't have to fight of the pull of blue eyes - shimmering brighter than any Lapis Lazuli stone in Frieza's private collection of rare gems.

"No." He firmly told his brother with what he hoped was clear finality. As if he would willingly take such a stubborn, opinionated dangerous distraction into space.

"I don't want to leave without saying good-bye." Goten sniffed.

"Then we'll go and say good-bye." Gohan conceded. He shuddered to think of what Vegeta and the others would think of him now, if they caught him giving in to such sentimental nonsense. But this was his brother, and the Saiyans were not here. He was already responsible for taking his parents away from him; if saying goodbye to that girl meant so much to him… he could at least give him that.

Then they'd be off this planet in search of answers.

* * *

><p>"There you are brat!"<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Brought to you by Kakarot Son and Gue22. Review please.<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Authors Notes: T-rated language. That means that the language in this chapter is 13 plus. Please remember that.**

**Disclaimer: TDS does not own Dragonball.**

...

"Vegeta?" A surprised Gohan asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Who's this man?" Goten asked, even more surprised than Gohan. "I don't think he's one of daddy's friends, I've never seen him before."

It had been a few hours since the _humans_ left, and Gohan was in the process of trying to explain the shifty situation to his younger brother.

Vegeta had taken it upon himself to storm through the gaping hole that used to be the door of the Son residence. Still surprised at the man's sudden entry, Gohan was unable to hold his ground as he was pulled outside by the shorter man's rough hand.

"This mess can only mean that he found you. Good thing you took care of him, so that's that. Come, we've got work to do, let's go." Vegeta barked as he dragged Gohan along. It was clear to Gohan that he was in a no-nonsense mood.

Gohan dug his feet into the ground and pulled the armoured man backwards. "We're not done here, yet." He said, gesturing back towards the house.

"Look… brat. Shit's gotten serious now. I know you might want to take Kakarot with us, but if he's got such a useless power level, - so useless that my scouter didn't pick it up earlier - he's not worth it. Now come on, and stop wasting my time."

"I'm not talking about my father, Vegeta," Gohan said, standing up straight and letting go of Vegeta's arm.

Vegeta turned around, facing away from Gohan. "So what? You want to drag some scumbag Earthling along with us? I'm not playing games, this is seri-"

"My brother," Gohan said, as Vegeta's head spun around soon after.

"So Kakarot had a second child that Raditz didn't collect?" Vegeta said in a philosophical tone… maybe Raditz had cared for his brother after all.

"He hadn't been born then," corrected Gohan.

Vegeta began walking away again. "Forget it half-pint. I'm not brat-sitting." He continued walking until he noticed an aura flare from behind him. Turning back, Vegeta saw Gohan giving him a sharp glare.

"I am **not** leaving without him." It was Gohan's turn, to turn around and walk forwards.

Vegeta sighed loudly, gritting his teeth in frustration. "Get him, and then we get out of here." He angrily punched his fist into a gloved palm.

…

"Say bye?" Vegeta growled at the two half-Saiyans. "You want to say _good-fucking-bye_ to some _pathetic Earthling tramp_?"

Goten cowered behind his younger brother and firmly held his leg. "B-big brother… I-I'm scared."

Ignoring his little brother, the older half-Saiyan growled back at his superior. "Unless you want your ears bleeding for the whole trip, we're going. It's only going to take a little while. Then we can sit down and talk things out and figure out what the fuck's going on. Rest assured; you're not the only one that's pissed off."

Clenching his teeth, Vegeta muttered. "No more distractions… I swear… one more thing after this and I will blast you and this whole god-forsaken planet into oblivion."

It had been a few minutes since Vegeta had come rushing in and they were standing outside the Son home. After some haphazardly-done introductions, Goten had mentioned Videl once more to Gohan irritancy. The damn snot-nosed brat wouldn't shut up about her.

"And I don't suppose you'll be able to find the wench's Ki signature either?" Vegeta asked, looking ready to pounce on Gohan.

"I thought this through, Vegeta. I know where the Earthling-girl is, she's located in one of the medical facilities. Just follow me." Gohan blasted into the sky, after roughly scooping his younger brother into his right-arm.

Vegeta muttered quietly to himself, before promptly taking off and following the two brothers.

"You've gotten soft… brat."

…

Bulma massaged her temples gently. She needed some coffee down her throat… like now.

This was beyond ridiculous. Earlier, it had just been another normal afternoon. She wasn't doing much, just a typical Sunday afternoon. Nobody, not even company heads wanted to do anything on Sundays; it was a lazy day.

However this apparently wasn't the case for intergalactic aliens. They didn't seem to want to take Sundays off, and her best friend had paid the price for it.

Absentmindedly pinching herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming; Bulma frowned. This was beyond ridiculous, she couldn't even begin to think of how unreal it all seemed.

Her relationship with Yamcha had been going great for months now, eight months in fact and she'd been snuggling with him in bed. However to her surprise, he'd abruptly stood up and run out the door while hastily putting on a shirt during the middle of it. Needless to say, as soon as she made sure she was dressed appropriately, she followed him on one of the numerous jet-copters she owned.

It had taken a while to catch up to Yamcha, and even then he was suspended in mid-air trying to focus. She'd have sooner asked him what he was focusing about, but when it came to Yamcha… well he'd probably end up ignoring her.

After mustering her courage and asking him, she'd learned that it was something to do with Goku's power level. Surprisingly he answered and said there had been an abnormal drop in it. She and the whole gang knew by now of Goku's Super Saiyan transformation and the massive power boost it brought with it, so whenever they sensed it or in her case were told about it, it wasn't much out of the ordinary. It was just Goku training.

Bulma didn't know all that much about Martial Arts or anything, she wasn't a fighter. At most she had grasped some of the basic concepts of Ki (as a scientist, it was nigh impossible to not research) but even she knew that it had something to do with a person's life force. Naturally that wasn't a good thing. Test subject or living thing, a drop in life force didn't sound too good.

Now obviously Goku and Yamcha didn't go around firing blasts made of their very life force, but it definitely played some part in it. She wasn't sure what, but now was as good a time as any to find out.

If Goku's power level had dropped, that wasn't a good thing. And Bulma had known if there was some ridiculous alien brother of Goku's again then Yamcha would have mentioned it. But no, he hadn't; it meant something bad was up.

Bulma had figured that chances were they'd need a scientist, doctor or someone with their head screwed on right. So she'd gotten Yamcha to carry her to the battle scene, with a serious threat to his nightlife if he didn't. Although they had soon stopped mid-flight after Yamcha noticed a massive power increase in power, they eventually made it.

The forest was in tatters and Goku and Chichi were nowhere to be found… At first, at least. That horrifying image of Chichi still plagued her mind, but Goku had disappeared completely. However a few familiar faces were there, Krillin and Tien had both appeared on the scene. Goku's - according to Krillin - long-lost son was collapsed upon the floor. Collapsed upon the floor, but alive nevertheless; so she'd quickly called for help.

Soon ambulances and search parties flooded the area as Bulma attempted to contact a few old friends in high places to get some suppression orders placed on the incident. After all, it involved Videl Satan. Thinking that the media wouldn't get to know, or wouldn't find out about the incident would be a big mistake. And then the story would only get bigger as both the current World Martial Arts Tournament champion and Princess Chichi, a finalist from that last World Martial Arts Tournaments were involved.

Back in the good 'ol days, as soon as Anonymous had been recognised by the mass public the media began to eat the story up. Sadly to their disappointment, there hadn't been much for they'd both disappeared, not to be heard off again.

Thankfully it wasn't that hard to slap a few suppression orders on the incident after calling a few favours, but there still remained the question of what had happened. Soon the search parties returned with a little boy, and that news had brightened the morbid tone considerably.

Sure Chichi had been slaughtered, and Goku was missing but at least Goten was alive. That was… something, _at least_. Afterwards they asked Goten to recount what had happened, but they didn't get much other than sobs and tears out of the young boy.

Bulma had taken Psychology in high school, it hadn't done her much good, but because of it she knew that it would take Goten a little while to even think about the incident without turning into a hysterical mess.

So she hadn't pressed him too much, first they needed to find everybody they could. If Videl or Goku could be found, or both, then Bulma had thought the situation wouldn't be that bad.

However that was not the case, but nevertheless to the blue-haired woman's surprise, Goku's first son, Gohan had soon busted through the front door of his father's house. They had been using it a sanctum from the cold weather outside and as a temporary base.

After explaining what had happened, even though he had made it clear that he didn't care about any of the "Inferior Earthlings," Gohan had walked back out the door. And Goten soon waddled after his older brother.

She wasn't sure what had happened next, but Gohan had returned with Videl and tossed her like a sack of potatoes on the floor. After having a small conversation with them, he'd then told everyone to leave – and rather roughly too! - and so they did.

Capsule Corp. would be a better place to plan after all. They just had to play it safe and get the Dragonballs before Gohan managed to disappear to wherever he wanted with Goten, it didn't seem like it was that hard.

But no; things were not simple either. Something was wrong with the Dragon Radar, and she couldn't figure out what it was. She'd tried taking out her other ones, but those still had the same problem. She'd even made a new from scratch –albeit with her Dad's assistance to do it quicker- but no, it still had the _same_… _damn_…_problem_. Only four of the seven Dragonballs were showing up on the radar, it didn't make sense.

This was the worst kind of disaster. It was not one of power, strength or mental toughness, it was one of time. More specifically it was a race against time. She needed to get the dragonballs ready in time, so that she could resurrect Goku and Chichi. Normally she had at least a year, but if she didn't do it soon then Gohan would go off gallivanting to space, poor little Goten in toe.

She couldn't let that happen. _No_. Goku had given enough to Planet Earth, it wasn't right. He'd saved them _twice_ from world domination, or _thrice_ counting the Red Ribbon Army, but he'd never gotten anything back.

First they had taken his son away, next they took his wife's life and as if that wasn't enough; they took his life too. Now to rub salt in the wound, they were going to take his second son away.

She didn't care if she had to storm into Baba's temple and beat all the damn hags' fighters herself; Goten was not going to vanish off to some alien planet.

…

"Just take the Earthling-girl with us and let's get off this god-forsaken backwater mud ball. If you're not going to come with the brat and the brat's not coming without saying her goodbyes to the girl then bring her along as well."

Gohan did a double take, he wasn't sure if he'd heard Vegeta correctly or not. Goten was whining again, and here they were in front of a sleeping Videl. She wasn't awake and Goten didn't want her woken up either, especially not by Vegeta's proposed method. The brat wanted to _wait _of all things.

However seeing Vegeta smirk made Gohan look more intently at the man. He had something up his sleeve.

"She might as well keep an eye on this brat no? We'll just kill her if she becomes a burden."

That was more like Vegeta. But Gohan had to agree, there wasn't much wrong with the plan. If she could stop Goten from whining, there wasn't much of a reason not to take her. Besides that, she was just a puny little human of a power level that didn't even begin to touch one-thousand.

And it was true true, if she started driving him crazy, she was disposable. It was a sound plan. "Where are you going to find a ship which can carry the four of us anyway? I've lost track of where my pod is, and then it can only carry one person."

A swift punch to the gut was Gohan's answer. "Be more responsible next time. As for the ship… I saw one while searching for you."

Goten had been sitting in the corner, Gohan wasn't really sure why but he hadn't been talking. Gohan guessed that it was because he'd lost his parents, but Goten wasn't opening up to anyone except to this Videl girl who was currently sleeping and a little to himself.

He was completely shunning Vegeta. But it seemed as if, Vegeta had taken notice of the boy once again as he walked over to him.

"What's your name boy?" The little child cowered, before standing up straight.

"G-Goten," The boy stuttered. However a quick punch to the stomach silenced him and knocked him unconscious.

"Vegeta," Gohan growled.

"That's not a Saiyan name…" Vegeta retorted as he threw the boy over his arm.

Gohan rolled his eyes, then watched in mild amusement as Vegeta gestured with his eyes towards the Earth-girl. He sighed, grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder not even bothering to mind the two casts on both her arms.

Gohan rose into the air, waiting for Vegeta who was carrying Goten, to take off and lead the way towards this "spaceship."

...

**Authors Notes: Written by Kakarot Son**

**Also sorry for the lapse in updates. We've been busy with other stuff, so yeah. Also got a few new stories going so I recommend having a look at those.**

**Remember if you'd like to join the team, go to our profile and you'll find a link to our forums. You can apply for the group over there in the Marshalling Zone.**

**Cheers.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own DBZ.**

Gohan carefully inspected the yard of spaceships which Vegeta had led him to. The idiots who owned the place hadn't bothered to lock any of their belongings and it was a roofless area. They were practically begging for their spaceships to be stolen.

Walking into the largest one he could find, Videl still slung carelessly over his shoulder, Gohan motioned for Vegeta to follow him.

"I'm surprised these cockroaches managed to build anything half-decent," remarked the Saiyan Prince.

"While they're all pathetically weak, they seem to be able to use their brains fairly well. The problem being that half the worms don't want to use them," said Gohan as the door to the spaceship opened.

"Brains don't help them when I'm blasting them to smithereens." Gohan wasn't surprised, it was Vegeta. If there was one thing he was good at, it was blowing things up.

He smirked as Vegeta gave the interior of the ship an unimpressed stare. Behind the prince's cool façade, Gohan could tell that there were hints of approval.

Leaving Vegeta behind, Gohan walked over to the main control panel. He wasn't impressed when he saw that it was touch-controlled; he never truly understood the point of such primitive technology. It was weak and easy to break, while buttons were far more sturdy and wouldn't shatter. But above all, he preferred voice control... It was far superior.

Tapping the screen, Gohan quickly looked through the user-interface menu. Satisfied that the spaceship would do to get to wherever they were going, Gohan stood back -Videl still slouched over his shoulder- and stared at the Saiyan Prince.

"It looks good to me... so should we take it?"

"If it gets the job done, then let's hurry up and get the hell out of this hell-hole," Vegeta answered indifferently.

"Well, shouldn't we check to see if there's room for everyone? I really doubt that the four of us would be happy to bunk together."

Vegeta scowled. "If you know that, then why are you asking me if we should take it or not?" Dropping Goten carelessly on the floor, Vegeta walked away to inspect the other rooms of the spaceship.

Deciding to not waste time, Gohan went the other way; however, he decided to take Videl in case she woke up and attempted to escape.

There wasn't really much room for training, or at least from what Gohan had seen. That was kind of disappointing as most of Freiza's ships had training rooms inbuilt; but then again, the Earthlings wouldn't really have the need for such rooms.

Passing another bedroom, Gohan soon found himself in the kitchen. And saying that the kitchen was humongous was a massive understatement. There were at least four different freezers, three different refrigerators and various different cupboards.

Quickly checking the freezers with his free hand, Gohan was happy to note that they were all fully stocked, meaning that food would be plentiful on their journey.

Satisfied, Gohan returned to the main room to find Vegeta standing there impatiently.

"Well?" Vegeta asked irritably.

"I found a large kitchen and several bedrooms." answered Gohan.

"I found a bunch of bedrooms and an odd room filled with weights." Vegeta sighed, "So will this do?"

"Well, we're not living here... so we should manage. It's just unfortunate that there's no statis-mode on this thing. I'd much rather be suspended in animation than have to deal with these two when they awake," said Gohan, casually tossing Videl next to Goten.

"So then, let's get out of here!"

"You really seem to hate this place..." mumbled Gohan, as he walked over to the main control pad and commanded it to take off.

* * *

><p>Goku smiled as he saw a familiar black-haired woman ahead in the same gigantic queue that he was in. Carefully shoving through the line, he made his way towards her.<p>

"Hey, Chichi!" he called, as she turned her head towards him.

"Goku!" she cried in surprise. "Where are we?"

Embracing his wife, Goku replied. "I'm not sure... but if I had to take a guess, this is probably the Otherworld that Kami was telling me about."

"O-otherworld?" Chichi asked in confusion.

"Well, I'm glad to know that my teachings didn't go straight through your head, Goku." The two quickly turned around, surprised, to see Kami.

"Kami?" Goku asked, "is that you?" As the green-coloured being nodded, Goku continued. "W-where are we? And why are we standing in a massive line?"

"Well, you answered the first question yourself; but I suppose a more accurate answer would be The Checkout Station. It's the place in which all souls are judged and granted access to either Heaven or Hell." The guardian chuckled. "And you're standing in a line, because you're about to get judged."

"So... I guess this means we're dead then." Chichi sighed, brushing her fingertips through her black hair.

"Wait! What happened to Gohan... and Goten? We were fighting that weird alien dude and the last thing I remember was him tricking me..."

"Well after you died, Gohan fell into a deep rage and defeated the intruder. Then one of his Saiyan friends arrived on Earth and the two kidnapped Videl and Goten before leaving the planet."

"Kidnapped?" asked Goku, perplexed. "Why would they take them?"

"Well, I'm guessing that Goten grew on your first son, Goku... but I'm unsure as to why they took Videl."

"How dare they!" Chichi yelled, "I'll teach them a thing or two, lemme at 'em!"

"Chichi, calm down." Goku giggled, before turning towards Kami with a much more serious look. "So do you know where they're going?"

"My home planet... Planet Namek." Kami said mellowly.

"I see... So my brother was right after all, eh? The two of you really are aliens... just like me, huh?" Goku's voice took on a strangely philosophical tone, which felt odd on his tongue.

"You've known that for quite some time though, Goku," a bemused Kami said.

"Enough of all this alien nonsense! Who is going to save my little baby? And my other little baby? And just think of poor Videl!" Chichi screeched, irritated at the teacher-and-student duo.

"The others are working to gather the Dragonballs as quickly as possible, so that you two can return."

"I never pegged you as one to play messenger, Kami." Goku smiled as Kami returned it.

"Who said I was a messenger?"

"Then, what the hell are you here for?" an extremely irritated Chichi screamed for what must have been the hundredth time that day.

"Well... this invitation mainly extends to Goku, but I suppose you'll be allowed to accompany him, Chichi. I've pulled a few strings with King Yemma and he has agreed to let you train with King Kai while the two of you wait to be resurrected. Let's just say that you may need his help..."

* * *

><p>Videl winced, her arms were in agony. Her body felt like it had been tossed around like a pebble... everything was aching.<p>

She groggily opened an eye as she staggered to her feet, careful to mind the casts that her arms were in. "G-goten? Is that you?" She almost immediately recognised the spiky black locks of the child, which held an uncanny resemblance to that of his father's.

Receiving no response, she stepped over the boy's body and onto the other side of it. His eyes were closed... but he didn't appear to be sleeping.

Without even bothering to take in the unfamiliar surroundings, Videl's eyes immediately widened. Placing a hand on the child's chest, she was almost surprised to find that it was not rising.

"N-no..." she whispered, as she quickly pulled one of his arms out and pressed two staggering fingers to his wrist.

Relief flooded her body as she found a pulse. It wasn't as strong as she'd have liked it to be, but nor was it as weak as she expected it to be. Stroking the sleeping boy's head gently with her hand, she silently offered her pity to her former-teacher's son.

She herself had only lost her mother at age ten... Goten on the other hand, he was about six. And his family was so screwed up at the moment that her egotistical father couldn't even begin to compete with it.

Goku was the nicest person- except for perhaps Goten himself- that she had ever met, and Chichi was a brilliant mother. While overprotective and occasionally pushy with Goten's studies, Videl had noted that she loved him dearly and he did too. All the Sons did.

Then, not long ago, came the sadistic asshole of a long-lost brother named Gohan. He didn't infuriate Videl nearly as much as she pitied the almost otherwise-perfect family for having him as a member. But he had a major stick up his ass and just when that was beginning to unwind... shit broke loose.

She'd never really experienced one of Goku's battles herself, rather having heard them in story form from him, and so she'd always felt that something about them was... exaggerated? Well as much as you could exaggerate flying, Ki-blasts and mechanical superhumans. But as she had tragically found that day... those stories, if anything, were toned down for her ears.

That moment when that alien had killed Chichi had truly been one of despair. It was perhaps the most heart-wrenching moment Videl had witnessed. The person who was so damn close to becoming her mother-figure... killed like a fly.

She'd tried to stay strong for Goten who was beside her; if she put up an iron-resolve, maybe he wouldn't take it too hard. Besides he needed her comfort, not to listen to the sobs of horror, which she would have otherwise let out.

However all thoughts of that had almost gone out the window the second she heard Goku's next statement.

_'You killed my wife.'_

Videl wasn't sure if it was the eerily emotionless voice of the normally cheerful Goku, or the unbelievingly shocked feeling which he seemed to exude. What followed though, was the worst beating she had ever seen.

Goku had turned into a monster for all intents and purposes. He had almost torn the alien apart and she was almost sure he would have had it not been for that odd turning of the tide.

She still didn't understand what had gone wrong, but she did know it was fatal. It had cost her teacher his life... and her teacher was the strongest guy she knew.

Her dad was a joke, a complete joke in comparison to him. Goku could beat him with simply the nail of his pinky finger, and yet that didn't stop... the monster... alien, whatever it was.

It still killed Goku, even when the man had been trashing him about mere minutes before his untimely demise. Thankfully, when all hope was lost; the asshole, Gohan, had stepped forward and given the alien what it deserved.

That made her see the boy... or rather man- they were adults now, right?- in a different light. However, she had experience with people like Gohan. One step forward and four step backwards with their kind. Chances were that she'd still be the "stupid Earthling girl."  
>Sighing, she began to inspect the area in which she and Goten were in before suddenly collapsing onto the floor in a mess as Gohan stepped out from the shadows, his hand pressing Videl's shoulder and knocking her out.<p>

"Go to sleep..."

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Notes: So now Goku and Chichi know of Vegeta and Gohan's motives while they venture towards Snake Way. You'll have to stay tuned to find out what happens next.<strong>

**Brought to you by Kaka.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own Dragonball.**

"What do you mean, they're gone?" Bulma asked, shock genuinely overcoming her features for what must have been the tenth time in the past two days.

"... Uhh, exactly that." Krillin frowned as he awkwardly attempted to phrase the correct words. "We woke up this morning and we couldn't sense Gohan or Goten! It's almost like they vanished off the face of the Earth itself."

Massaging her temples carefully, Bulma replied. "Are you absolutely sure that, that alien was killed? It might have... you know... tried to finish the job?"

"Somehow I doubt that Bulma. Its body was pretty much destroyed, I saw it with my own eyes... if I didn't know better, I would've said it was the remains of some kind of animal," Krillin said, clearly enjoying the situation as much as she was.

"Wait, you mean you just left it there? For anyone to take and examine? Do you know how reckless that is? With the advancements in technology coming along like they're doing these days, someone like Gero could make a super machine, which nobody would be capable of stopping!" Bulma all but screeched. She didn't need this, not now, not when Goku and Chichi were dead and their two sons had disappeared.

Krillin held out a single hand to silence her. "Don't worry, Yamcha blew it up. We could sense lots of people, who turned out to be medical forces, coming our way so Tien suggested that we get rid of it."

Letting out a breath of relief, Bulma smiled lightly. "'Least we got that right."

She was thankful, Tien was always the logical one. It was one less headache for her to worry about, and it almost pulled her out of a situation she really didn't want to be in. However, all was not done yet.

"So... any idea as to where Gohan and Goten are?" Bulma asked Krillin, hopefully. He definitely knew more than her at the moment.

"Well from what Tien says, he felt a pretty large power level appear last night and then along with a weaker one. They flew around for a little while before they causally faded. Like as in, without dying... we think. But yeah, I couldn't really tell you because I was asleep to be honest." Krillin rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Didn't Tien check it out or something?"

"Well... nah, he thought that it might've been Piccolo or Gohan or something, so he decided to leave it alone as they weren't causing much of a havoc."

Bulma's eyes widened. "Maybe Piccolo's got something to do with this? I mean Goku's dead now, so he must've decided to extract his revenge on Goten and Gohan! For that bastard's twisted humour, it'd be almost perfect... a family reunion."

"..." Krillin was left speechless. "Shit... Chichi would kill me if I let anything happen to the two of them while they were gone."

"Well then, don't just stand there then! Go and find Piccolo and see if he did this... and remember: don't kill him. If he goes, the dragonballs and Goku and Chichi go too," said Bulma, sadly. The situation was a little grimmer than she thought.

"... I don't think I could kill Piccolo even if I wanted to, Bulma." Krillin flashed Bulma a nervous smile as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head in a Goku-like manner.

"Whatever, just go and find out. Take Tien and Chiaotzu with you if you need to."

"What about Yamcha?" Krillin asked, playfully sticking out her tongue.

"W-well... he's uhh going to help me find the dragonballs." Bulma bit her tongue as she tried to come up with an excuse.

Truthfully, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to take it if Yamcha died as well. Her best friend, his wife and his sons... she didn't want to risk her boyfriend. Besides, she was pretty sure that Krillin could handle himself, and Tien would be more than enough backup. And she really did need someone to help her gather the dragonballs; she couldn't fly after all.

"Sure, he is." Krillin dodged the shoe that was thrown his way as he took off into the air, laughing.

…

"Kame..." She cupped her hands, and began to focus her energy.

"Hame..." Focusing harder, blue energy began to form.

"Ha!" Yelling loudly, she release the blue beam of energy, which had been gathering in her hands, and launched it at the orange-clad man standing in front of her.

"You'll have to try better than that to get me, Chi!" Her husband laughed playfully as he backflipped into the air to avoid her attack.

She pursued her husband, running around the many twists and bends of the odd path that they were on as he continued to jump around in the air with glee.

She didn't dare fly though; one bad experience had been enough. This path that they were on... to meet this King Kai... it was dangerous, not something that she wanted to fall off of. The warnings that they'd been given about falling off had been pushed to the back of her mind until mere hours ago when she had almost fallen off the metal-like road.

A shadowy hand had almost grabbed her as she attempted to escape by flying as Goku had taught her a little while before, but it was to no avail. Thankfully the hand was no match for Goku, who quickly saved her... it reminded her of the old days.

In fact this whole thing was nostalgic... no Gohan, no Goten; no kids, no-one at all. Just the two of them in isolation, having fun. Well they weren't exactly having fun knowing that their kids had been kidnapped, but they were trying to make the most of it. And the uncanny resemblance that Snake Way's clouds and the Flying Nimbus had did nothing to quell her nostalgia wave.

Goku had offered to fly her straight to King Kai's palace while carrying her on her back, but Kami had advised against it. She wasn't exactly sure, but Goku didn't question it; he simply nodded. And while the anxious pit in the back off her stomach was still ever-present, she had taken the chance to try and get back into her fighting form.

The bounty hunter had killed her far too easily... she hadn't even put up a fight. She wasn't some helpless little princess... not anymore. She was an independent, strong woman; she could take care of herself. And besides, she needed to teach Gohan's little 'Saiyan friend' a lesson.

She still had very mixed feelings on Gohan. She loved him, there was no lying to herself on that. She loved him very much, so. She'd spent many, many years building up a wall, which allowed her to live in an imaginary little world where her little boy hadn't been kidnapped. Where there wasn't the chance that her little boy was being brutally tortured at any given moment; where her little boy had been completely and definitely alive.

But all that safeguarding had failed the second that he came back. She was grateful, and she loved him as much as she had before, maybe even more so. The saying, 'You never know you love something until its gone,'seemed to quickly run through her mind. But he wasn't her little boy anymore. And she didn't mean he physically wasn't her little boy, he had changed quite a lot.

He didn't cry anymore... he didn't hug her, sometimes she had trouble convincing herself that he actually cared for her... that he loved her. He'd said it a few times to her; however, she wasn't entirely convinced. Who could blame him? She was his mother! And she'd disappeared for a good damn chunk of his life. She couldn't bring herself to call that mothering...

She wasn't his mother so much as she was the woman that gave birth to him. Biologically they were related, but at an emotional level? Sh wasn't sure if she even deserved it, but she was willing to make the connection; it was up to him too if he wanted to meet her halfway. She wouldn't pressure him.

However, there were more pressing issues right now... for one, he'd kidnapped his little brother and Videl. Chichi had no clue what was running through his mind as he did that, but she was disappointed. Despite the disappointment though, she couldn't bring herself to hate her son for it.

After all, did he actually even know better? Raised by the Saiyans, he mustn't have been taught much in that regard. No, she wasn't making excuses for him; what he was doing was wrong. There was no pretending there, but she didn't want things to end badly between him and her.

She still loved that four-year old boy, even if he had grown into a drastically-changed eighteen-year old young man.

…

Bulma yawned lazily as she heard knocking on the front-door. Jumping up from the couch, she smiled. Yamcha had finally brought his lazy ass over to Kame House, and now they could go Dragonball hunting. It'd almost be just like the old days; they just needed Oolong and Puar to tag along with them. It was truly a shame that Goku couldn't join them however. That was disappointing.

Combing her shoulder-length hair with her fingers, Bulma walked over to the door and opened it.

It was not the man she was expecting.

In Yamcha's stead was a rather fat and shorter man wearing some kind of strange orange robe. Shuddering when she noticed a sheathed Katana tied to his belt, she looked up his grubby body to see small, beady eyes which glared back at her, irritated.

"... Who are you?" Bulma asked, blinking. She was sure she was missing something.

"The name's Yajirobe. Goku owes me one and I'm doing message duty for Kami." The Samurai look-a-like with long, untidy black hair gave her a brief nod. "I take it that you know Goku too?"

"Knew," corrected Bulma as she returned the nod. "He's dead now, but we're going to bring him back to life with the-"

"Yeah, yeah I know. Sheesh, lemme finish. Kami says to wait a bit before you revive Goku and Chichi; apparently they're going through some kind of after-death training or something."

"Wait... what?" Bulma did a double take as she looked at Yajirobe, surprised.

"Ya heard me, they're going through some training that only dead people can do."

"Yeah, I'm not worried about that. That would've been fine, normally, but both his sons have been kidnapped! We can't wait for them to finish some kind of training, we can't even sense Gohan or Goten anymore!" yelled a worried Bulma. Kami was meant to be a smart guy, Guardian of the Earth and all... but seriously? He must've known about Goku's kids being kidnapped. Why on Earth would he allow the kidnapper to get further away?"

"Sheesh! Calm your farm, I'm just the messenger," Yajirobe pretended to fan some imaginary flames. "And besides, only the younger one was kidnapped, the elder one helped kidnap Goten and some other chick. He was along with some friend or something."

"Wait... you mean Gohan kidnapped Goten?" Bulma blinked, as Yajirobe nodded. Oh great... another headache.

"Yep, his little brother and another girl. I forgot her name... Victoria or something."

"Videl?" Bulma's eyes widened. This was just getting worse and worse. If her suspicions were confirmed, Mr. Satan would eventually be on her ass too... just great.

To Bulma's horror, Yajirobe nodded grimly. It was official then, this was the shittest week ever.

"Wait... you said that Gohan had some help?" Bulma asked curiously. This 'messenger' seemed to be well informed and she needed to salvage all the information she could get.

"Yea... Kami says he's some hotshot alien, same as Goku. Except that there's a pretty good chance that he's stronger, apparently a prince or some crap." Bulma nodded firmly, it made sense. There was no use in reviving Goku and having him die on them again; there was no coming back from that.

"Thanks, I appreciate the info," Bulma smiled, almost bidding Yajirobe farewell.

"Wait... Kami's offered to train your friends, and just between you and me; I'd take him up on the offer," Yajirobe said lazily, as he tossed a capsule onto the ground.

"So we just fly up into the sky to find Kami?" Bulma asked curiously, before the Samurai look-alike left.

"Meh, you'll be able to find it. Goku did, after all."

…

**Author's Notes: This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son. So Krillin's going after Piccolo... do you reckon he'll make it out alive? Anyways, not much Gohan today folks, but I'm sure there'll be more next time. After all, this is all for a reason.**

**Oh and Guest: This is the real chapter 14. The original was an accidental duplicate of chapter 13.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: We at Team Dragon Star don't own Dragonball.**

…

"So... you wanted to have a chat?" Gohan said, sitting down opposite Vegeta at the table that he was seated on.

"It's about damn time, you don't even know where we're going brat." Vegeta clenched his fists in anger, as he spat on the hard spaceship floor.

"All I know is that I'm going to destroy whatever remains of that pathetic bounty hunter's life. First, whatever family he has left and then those that hired him." Gohan's voice adopted a cold, uncaring tone.

"Why bother? I'm presuming the worm's dead by now. Why would you consider going after the others? Sure, obliterate the bastard's that attempted to kill you, but why waste time with going after the others?" It was a peculiar - but welcome - change within the halfbreed's persona.

"That son of a bitch murdered my mother and then my father, Vegeta. Surely, you know how that feels?" Gohan almost winced at the unintended jab.

Vegeta's body shook with anger. "Listen brat, frankly I don't give a rat's ass about how much you cared for your parents, but do not think for a second that you know what it's truly like to lose people to death."

"I watched, paralysed, as my mother was murdered in front of me. Then my father... I think that qualifies Vegeta." Gohan shot back, his voice turning to one of regret.

"You lost two people? Boo-hoo. Grow the fuck up. We live in a world where death isn't uncommon, and as much as I hate to admit it, someday I'm going to die. You are too. You lost your parents... that would've happened sooner or later, as it was. You didn't even know them. I, on the other hand, lost my entire race." Venom dripped from Vegeta's voice as he glared at the half-Saiyan in disgust.

"Now, today; I stand as the last Saiyan warrior within the universe-"

"What about Nappa? What about Raditz? Do they not count, Vegeta? Or is that stick too far up your ass?" Gohan countered, the anger between the two radiating back and forth.

"They are both dead, dammit. You would've known that if you decided to hear me out before bringing up my dead race..." It was a sore spot for him; he knew that and Gohan knew that too.

"D-dead?" Gohan stuttered, his voice suddenly rife with shock.

"Yes. Fucking Frieza decided that he didn't like us Saiyans anymore, and now all that remains of the Saiyan race is aboard this pathetic little ship. It's ridiculous really. If Frieza were to hit us right now he could finally destroy the great warrior race; once and for all... finish what he started."

"What? I thought a meteorite destroyed Planet Vegeta?" Gohan's voice rang with alarm. Vegeta wasn't sure if the boy's teenage hormones had anything to do with the way his mood was changing.

"Did you really ever believe such petty lies, brat?" Vegeta asked, as he gently massaged his temples. "Frieza blew the planet up... I thought you would have known that."

"I had my suspicions, but I believed what you, Nappa, and Raditz had told me. Frieza... finally made his move then?" Gohan sighed lamely. This wasn't going to be good, for either of them.

"He caught us by surprise. He almost took down the three of us, but Nappa and Raditz sacrificed themselves to let me escape..."

"They did that? I never would've thought that Nappa would have-"

"Don't be ridiculous. Whether or not they did it for me is of no concern... they did, however, do it so that you could be warned." said Vegeta, as he avoided eye contact by turning his eyes to the floor.

"Warned?" Gohan's eyebrows raised. "Of what?"

"The bounty hunter which had been sent after you. Although, it appears it was a little late..."

It was Gohan's turn to scowl. "You mean, if you'd been here earlier; my parents wouldn't have died?"

"Perhaps, but it's hardly my fault. How did Kakarot die, anyway? I had a look at the brat's power level and even while it's dormant; it's larger than mine was at his age."

"... You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you," Gohan almost huffed. His father sure was one hell of a character.

"We'll have time for that later, then. First off; we've established that Frieza sent a bounty hunter after you to finish the job, correct?" Vegeta asked, as Gohan nodded his head; waiting for the shorter man to continue.

"I've decided that it's now or never... we're launching an all out attack upon the bastard as soon as possible, before he kills anymore of us. He's already gotten most of the race, now Nappa and Raditz and if what you tell me is true - Kakarot, too. It's time to take a stand and destroy him; once and for all. We've been biding our time, growing stronger with each passing day, but now it's time." Vegeta said as he cracked his knuckles, watching Gohan's somewhat monotonous face.  
>"He's taken too many of us... we can't let another fall, or we'll never pose a threat to him. I initially hoped that just the two of us would be enough, but perhaps the brat will play a small hand of his own..."<p>

"I thought I was the brat?" Gohan asked, rubbing his head sheepishly.

"... You're the older brat. He's the smaller brat," Vegeta deadpanned. Shaking his head, the warrior continued. "Anyway... Frieza is on a planet called Namek. We're going to destroy his army, and then we're going to destroy him."

"Why not just blow up the whole planet?" Gohan asked, logically. "It makes sense; he and all his men would die from suffocation."

"You fool! If it was that easy, I would have done it a decade or two ago! Frieza and his rotten family can breathe in space. We could take out his army, but what's to stop Frieza from taking us out afterwards? And I will not insult the Saiyan race by avenging them through such a cowardly method," Vegeta hissed sharply at the young demi-Saiyan.

"I see then... so I take it you'll be able to input Namek's coordinates into the spaceship, then?" Gohan asked as he rocked back on the sturdy chair.

"I know the coordinates... although I might need your help when putting them in. I don't know how Earthling technology works."

…

Krillin nervously flew closer towards the mysterious power level which he was feeling. It was Piccolo, of that he had no doubt, but it felt so malevolent... so distraught and evil.

To be honest, it felt worse than it had the day he and Goku teamed up to fight his alien brother. It was much, much stronger too. He vaguely recalled getting his behind handed to him at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament.

While he'd put up a decent fight, he'd been easily eclipsed by Piccolo and that had been demonstrated in the alien's fight against Goku. Perhaps, Krillin wouldn't have felt so nervous if Goku was still standing beside him.

Generally speaking, Goku had a certain charisma that he seemed to exude... it made you know things were going to be all right. Even if they all died, things would work out somehow. And of course, his insane strength always came in handy. When you had him by your side, nothing could go wrong, or at least nothing that couldn't be fixed.

His absence left Krillin with a large, nervous pit of anxiety and worry within his stomach. They were all working to revive Goku and Chichi, that much was certain, but so much more could go wrong.

What if Piccolo had nothing to do with the whole situation, and Krillin was on his way to death at the moment? What if Gohan and Goten didn't come back? Would they revive Goku and Chichi only to tell them that they'd lost not one, but both of their sons?

What kind of a friend was Krillin? He wouldn't let them come back without their children, not without giving his all to get them back. Goku had done so much for him and it was really one of the few things he could do to pay him back, and if that meant blindly rushing in to get answers from one of the most dangerous creatures on the Earth, then so be it.

Shaking slightly, Krillin came to a stop; Piccolo's power level was around here. He was a little surprised to hear the sound of a running waterfall; because that generally meant that there was a lake nearby, and a lake meant life. Krillin certainly wouldn't have ever thought that Piccolo would be associating himself with any kinds of life except for dead corpses.

Sighing, he admired the beauty of the place. It was quite picturesque, a beautiful forest and a beautiful waterfall... he wouldn't have been that surprised if Piccolo was only here to destroy the place. Focusing his senses a little more, he discovered that there were several different animals within the area.

It was quite odd that Piccolo would choose a place like this as his resting spot. Well, actually, Krillin wasn't sure if he was resting, but he couldn't see the green alien, so he presumed that he would be sleeping or perhaps eating.

Whatever the case, it didn't seem like he was tearing up the wildlife, or anything like that. Lazily touching down upon the ground as the warm sun shone on his bald head, Krillin decided to take a small break.

He needed to relieve all this stress, and he was close enough to Piccolo as it was. Twenty minutes or so couldn't hurt, and it wasn't like Bulma was really doing anything at this moment in time as it was.

With that in mind, Krillin quickly stripped off the top of his orange Gi as he prepared to jump into the lake in which the waterfall was falling into.

...

Many hours and one unfortunate incident with a certain snake princess later, Goku and Chi-Chi were further along the Snake Way, although they had no way of knowing how far away they were from King Kai's planet.

Chi-Chi's mind was simply focused on the curves and bends of the long path and avoiding all the sharp spikes. Of course, she didn't have to be very worried because Goku was by her side, but she wanted to distract herself from the current situation on Earth that Kami had described to them.

"Can we," she panted, slowing her pace, trying to keep her breathing in check, "stop for a moment?" Even though her stamina probably surpassed that of most women on Earth, she had been running for several hours - if not days - without stopping.

It was odd though... she'd have expected that she wouldn't feel fatigue or hunger in the afterlife. It didn't make much sense, but then again most of the stuff in the world in which she lived in didn't make much sense.

"You're tired already, Chi?" Goku said, tilting his head sideways in confusion. He back pedaled a few steps so he was at the same pace of his wife.

"Yes," she huffed, glaring at him. "Not everyone has super alien genes in their bodies."  
>He laughed, scratching the back of his head out of habit. "Oh yeah!"<p>

She slowed to a stop, bending down slightly while clutching her chest, as her other hand wiped away the sweat that had gathered on her forehead. "Goodness," she complained, "how much more do we have left?"

Goku thought for a moment. "Hmmm… I am guessing maybe half way?" he said, his tone doubtful. "I'm not entirely sure."

Chi-Chi raised an eyebrow. She ran for half a million kilometers already? That had to be the longest she had ever done, but again, she had been doing so non-stop since she died. "And remind me why you just can't carry me and fly all the way to King Kai's planet?"

"Because then you won't get any training at all while on Snake Way," was her husband's amused reply.

"Right…" she muttered. Her breathing had finally returned to its normal tempo, and she stood up straight to stretch. "Another question: How many days have we been running?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Goku finally said, "I don't know."

Chi-Chi resisted the urge to punch or slap him. It would do much more harm to herself than him anyway, if she could get hurt at all in the afterlife. The Other World really twisted up a lot of her ideals for the land of the dead.

"Hey Chi, how about you try the Kamehameha Wave on me and see how much damage you make!" Goku suddenly said.

"Are you mocking me?" she said in a disbelieving tone. She doubted she'd do anything at all, but cupped her hands to the side anyways.

"Ka… Me…" she began, the bright blue energy forming in her palms. Unbeknownst to her, it was stronger than the last time she had fired it, though she didn't know. "Ha… Me…" It became larger and larger, and so she spread her hands more separately to accommodate the size. "HAAAAA!"

The energy shot out of her hands in an amazing towards her husband, and there was a loud booming noise as it made contact with him, the explosion rocking Snake Way itself, a smoke cloud covering him. When it finally cleared away, Goku stood there with one sleeve completely burned away, and his hair was singed and smoking. His face clearly showed surprise. "Chi, you improved, you know," he said.

She sighed in relief. "Well that's good," she said, before plopping down onto the smooth surface of the Snake Way, rubbing her legs to ease them of the stiffness that gathered.  
>Goku followed her actions unconsciously and sat down next to her.<p>

A long moment later, she finally decided she rested enough and stood up, brushing her pants to get rid of any dust, though that was unlikely. The two set off running again in companionable silence, and that continued on for an immeasurable amount of time. Both were too lost in their thoughts, mostly concerning the troubling matter of their son. There was too much they didn't know, and Gohan was just so different than before.

What Chi-Chi was most worried about was how her family and friends were currently faring... How had they taken their deaths? Gohan, apparently had kidnapped Goten and Videl... was that because they were both dead? Perhaps to try and protect them? Chichi didn't know, but she was concerned.

She also couldn't help but wonder what Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha, and the rest of the gang were up to. Kami had mentioned that they were trying to gather the dragonballs, but were any of them going after her babies? It was going to take a while to find the dragonballs, and it wasn't like she wanted to be the only ones going after her sons.

Other than that... what did her father think of all this?

Those questions started buzzing around in her mind once more, and she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Goku had seemingly disappeared until an arm was under her legs and the other supporting her back. He lifted her up easily, and seeing her surprised expression, he explained. "I think you had enough training, and we're starting to run out of time."

He took a running leap and took off into the air with surprising speed, knocking the air out of Chi-Chi. As they soared past the golden clouds and took a straightforward path to the end, she couldn't help but have a childish thought.

'I'm so lucky to have Goku as a husband.'

...

**Author's Notes: We appreciate that you guys understood why a turn-away from Gohan and Videl was taken last chapter. Perhaps the Gohan scene in this chapter will make up for it though, but rest assured we won't just be focusing on the two characters from now on.**

**This chapter was brought to you by Kaka and Goshen (surprise, you got another author for this chapter).**

**On a side note, TDS partook in a Halloween challenge. This means that a simple visit to our profile will show several newly published one-shots. Perhaps take a look and review the ones that you thought were good.**

**Also, we're at chapter 15. It's been a long while, and I'd like to dedicate this chapter in honour of Razamataz22, who has decided to depart from the group and continue on with the next chapter of his life. Thanks to him and everything that he's done for us, including donating this story to this account.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: We don't own DBZ.**

Krillin jumped back in surprise as a lone Ki-blast hit the lake in front of him, causing water to splash everywhere. There wasn't much damage done; the attack obviously didn't have much power put into it.

Krillin glanced up, then back down, shuddering as he thought about what could have happened if that blast had been more powerful. Clenching his fists, he quickly recomposed himself as he looked upwards again.

Piccolo was hovering the air in all his terrifying might, with a vicious smirk upon his face. Krillin shuddered slightly in fear; he hadn't even sensed Piccolo sneaking up on him. If he had learned to control his Ki that well, there was no telling how powerful he actually was.

It had been many years since he had seen the green-coloured creature, and Krillin couldn't say he'd gotten any less intimidating. In fact, Krillin would say that he was even more frightening than before.

"What were the odds of finding you here?" Piccolo smiled devilishly, revealing barred fangs. "Fresh meat..."

"Uhh... P-Piccolo... I'm Krillin, one of G-Goku's friends-"

That statement merited a quick Ki-blast, one that Krillin knew would have seriously injured him had he not dodged at the last second.

"If you're trying to avoid getting killed, it would be best if you didn't mention that name... or introduce yourself as an accomplice," Piccolo's voice was laced with malicious venom.

Krillin gulped nervously, before nodding his head. "Y-Yes, s-sir." He didn't even feel comfortable saying the alien... no, monster's name.

"Now, I take it that you're more than well aware that I could crush you like the tiny little worm you are?" Piccolo asked, his voice taking on a slightly less venomous - but equally harmful - tone.

Krillin didn't dare to speak, he simply nodded, almost paralysed in fear. He knew that confronting Piccolo would be scary, dangerous, and many other things, but now; standing in front of him... he paled at how powerless he truly was.

Piccolo could very well kill him within mere seconds, devour his corpse, and be on his merry way without alerting anyone.

"So, what exactly is a pathetic bug like you doing out here? Was it by pure chance that I found you, or were you seeking me out... perhaps looking for an easy way to end your life?"

Krillin wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that, but he tried anyway. "I w-was looking for you. Goku's sons... they went missing. We were wondering if you knew anything. Please don't kill me."

Krillin was about ready to have an accident in his pants, and the look on Piccolo's face showed that he knew it too.

"Sons? You mean that buffoon had more after he lost the first one?" Krillin breathed out a slight sigh of relief. Piccolo seemed more focussed on Goku than him at the moment, and since the latter was already dead; that could only be a good thing.

"No. The first one came back... I thought you would have sensed the ridiculous power levels that were spiking up lately?" Krillin almost winced. Questioning Piccolo's intelligence or anything that could be perceived as doing that was not a good move, he needed to play this very... carefully.

"I ignore them all; power levels are of no concern to me. And they won't be when I take over this Kami-forsaken planet by force either. Your buffonic friend won't be stop me again." Piccolo scowled angrily at having to mention the man in question.

"He's kind of dead..."

"What?" If not for the fact that he was sure that he would've been blasted six feet under for doing so, Krillin would've laughed at Piccolo's reaction.

"Yeah... just a couple days ago, some weird alien or something came in... killed Goku and his wife. Then he was killed by Goku's kid, and suddenly both kids vanished. All I wanted to know was if you knew anything about it... but you don't; so I'll be on my way now," Krillin said quickly, turning around as he attempted to get away.

"Hang on," said Piccolo, catching the former-monk's attention. "I'm not done with you, yet."

Krillin shuddered nervously, but turned back to face Piccolo once more.

"You said that some alien attacked Goku, and killed him?" Piccolo questioned curiously, his eyes now closed as he appeared to be attempting to piece together information.

"Yeah, we're trying to revive him at the moment though. With the dragonballs and all."

"And this... alien attacked out of the blue, did he?" The evil in Piccolo's voice had all but disappeared, in its place a more serious and concerned voice.

Krillin nodded, adopting a serious look on his face. It was clear that Piccolo wasn't trying to play games. "As far as I'm aware."

"I see. So what's to stop more from attacking? If they could do away with Goku so easily, how would you fare against them? Hell, I'm even doubting how I'd stand against them if they managed to take down that monkey."

"W-why do you care?" Krillin did a double take. "Apart from the fact that they could potentially kill you, wouldn't you be happy if they got rid of the rest of us?"

"I'd hardly resort to something so cowardly. There's no point in ruling a planet full of weaklings, especially when I wasn't the one who killed its strongest." Irritation began to creep into Piccolo until-then eerily calm voice, so Krillin backed off a bit.

"So what do you propose we do then?" Krillin asked, taking a small step backwards to try and give Piccolo a little more room to himself.

"We train."

…

Gohan sighed. The spaceship was ridiculously boring... there were no training facilities and there weren't any other forms of entertainment. There were only so many one-fingered push-ups that he could do before he got bored.

Vegeta was being Vegeta, in that he was almost like a recluse. He was sitting in his little corner, eating his food; but otherwise quiet. There weren't any attempts to make conversation with him whatsoever.

The half-Saiyan almost wondered what was going through his superior's mind... it must've been filled with somewhat depressing thoughts. This was practically a last stand, the Saiyans were amongst the strongest in Frieza's army, their strength having only grown over the years. They'd already lost enough, as Vegeta had said and losing anymore would mean that they were willingly standing down, allowing the last remnants of their race to be oppressed.

It was take down Frieza or die trying, practically a suicide mission. Gohan wasn't sure if he expected to come out of it alive, but he sure as hell didn't expect everyone to come out of it alive. Perhaps, he didn't care all that much if he died.

He'd do the universe a favour by wiping out a great thorn in its side as a final atonement, or at least attempt to do so. That's about all that was left to do in this life, as it was. Everyone he knew or cared about was gone... except for Goten. And he'd be fooling himself if he said that he knew Goten.

Gohan quickly shook his head, and scolded himself on the inside for thinking such thoughts. They weren't worthy of a Saiyan warrior and especially one of his caliber. They'd beat Frieza and live their lives properly.

There wasn't really all that much to think of apart from the impending battle with Vegeta. There was just nothing else to do. Vegeta was acting distant again; Goten was often out like a light and still didn't fully understand the situation; and his father's pupil... she'd finally taken the hint and quietened down after being knocked out several times (when she found out where she was, she didn't take it very quietly).

Sighing, Gohan cracked his knuckles and began to try to compose his thoughts. He wondered what his parents would be doing right now... perhaps they were all at some gathering with Nappa and Raditz in heaven.

No. That just sounded stupid. He didn't have a doubt that his parents would go to heaven, but Nappa and Raditz on the other hand... if such a thing existed, they wouldn't find themselves in it. He wasn't going to kid himself; he wouldn't find himself in heaven either. All of them; Vegeta, Raditz, Nappa, and himself... they'd go straight to hell.

Finding himself hoping that such a concept was just that - a concept, and not reality - Gohan walked into the kitchen area.

The kitchen area was rather large, and more of an area than a kitchen; truth be told. Nevertheless, Gohan was a little surprised to see the Earthling girl sitting in a cross-legged position on the floor; a look of deep focus upon her face.

Walking towards her, he curiously questioned her motives. "What exactly are you doing... Earthling?"

"The name's Videl, and if you want to know, you better start calling me that." The girl shot back, half an eye open.

Figuring that it couldn't hurt all that much to humour the girl, he let out a dry chuckle. "What exactly are you doing... Videl?"

"Meditating," came the simple reply.

"... I didn't ask what it was called. I could care less about that, what are you doing?" Gohan said, raising a bemused eyebrow.

"I told you... I'm meditating. Now leave me alone and let me do it in peace!" The raven-haired girl all but yelled.

Earthlings were a little strange. His mother was an enigma in herself, but this girl... she was an even bigger one. Maybe all of them were like... this? Strange creatures, he supposed. Then again, he'd seen far stranger.

"I don't know what the word meditating means..." A bored Gohan said lamely, trying to strike conversation. It was true, but he really could care less about it at this point.

Both of the girl's cerulean eyes opened almost instantly as she gave him an unbelieving stare. "Did you live under a rock or something before you ended up back at Goku's place?"

"No. But in-case it was difficult for your primitive brain to figure out, I haven't been on this planet for the last fifteen or so years." He'd have hoped that she'd have understood; he'd briefly explained some of his backstory earlier but he clearly put too much faith in Earthlings.

"Oh... um, meditating is when you sit like I am, think deeply and concentrate." She said, gesturing to the way that her body was positioned.

"Concentrate on what?" Gohan asked, confused. It was probably some weird Earthling culture.

"On anything, I guess. You just find your happy place. I guess you're meant to concentrate deeply on relaxing or something," the girl said, clearly not bothered in the least by his confused look.

Figuring that it wouldn't hurt, Gohan sat beside her and mimicked her actions. It wasn't half-bad, he had to admit, but it would've been better if he didn't have a constant fear that Vegeta would walk in on him 'meditating' next to the Earthling slave. Stupid Earthling cultures...****

**Author's Notes: Well I guess that was a short chapter, but oh well. You guys finally got some decent interaction between Gohan and Videl, so I hope you enjoyed.**

**Brought to you by Kakarot Son.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own Dragonball.**

* * *

><p>It felt like they weren't airborne for very long when they landed once more onto the Snake Way, Goku insisting that Chi-Chi should still run a bit and train herself further.<p>

So hours later, her muscles were screaming in protest again, taut from the strain she had put on them after running nonstop for the past few hours. Sweat ran down her forehead in rivulets and her hair was completely damp. She bent over for what felt like the umpteenth time to catch her breath, raising a hand in attempt to gather her husband's attention. "Ca-can we stop for a minute?" she said between gasps.

Goku, who had long since passed her, looked behind him in surprise and ran backwards comically.

"Sorry!" he replied ever so cheerfully, a hand scratching the back of his head. He looked perfectly fine; no sweat, no hard breathing. Suddenly, Chi-Chi found herself very jealous of her husband's supernatural physique.

"Are you tired at all?" she demanded incredulously, failing to see any signs of fatigue, as she panted heavily.

"Nope!" the full blooded saiyan said with a sunny grin.

"Not even a little bit?" Chi-Chi raised an eyebrow as she let the air pass through her lungs. Come to think of it... she wasn't sure if there was any air in the afterlife anyway.

He shook his head.

She sighed. "You and your freakish abilities… So how long till we get there again, Goku?"

"We're almost there," he said, then took a great leap into the air. He shot up so far into the sky that all she saw was a black dot. Within moments, he flew back down with a loud sonic boom that hurt her ears. "Just a little bit further."

"Are we talking about your idea of a little bit left or my idea of that?" she muttered, knowing that a little bit to Goku would probably be an insanely long distance to her.

He tilted his head in confusion. "Huh?"

She sighed again... he was ridiculously clueless at times. "Never mind."

Goku pulled her onto her feet again. "C'mon, let's get going."

She nodded and began a slow jog, planning to pick up the speed bit by bit. "So," Chi-Chi began as a moment of silence passed. "What do you think of our little baby right now?"

Without asking which she was referring to, Goku understood. "Perhaps a little different than I had imagined," he admitted, "in a good way."

That sentence made her very curious of what was going on in her husband's usually very childish mind. "How so?"

"I thought that if Gohan was still alive, he might've become evil, like my brother," he responded in an uncharacteristically solemn tone. "Or at least, not the innocent little kid he used to be. Turns out I was half-right."

It was interesting how their minds reflected the same thought. "Ahhh…"

"Anyways," he said, skidding to an abrupt stop. "It's been awhile since you showed me your Kamehameha." Goku had his usual smile on again.

"By awhile, you mean a few hours, right?" she grumbled, but obliged anyways as she slowed down and cupped her hands to the side. She closed her eyes and focused, willing her energy to flow to her palms. A small blue ki ball began forming steadily as she chanted the familiar phrase.

"Ka… me…"

"Very good," Goku nodded approvingly, eyeing the growing sphere in his wife's hands.

"Ha… me…" Chi-Chi thrust her hands forward in front of her. "HA!" The energy shot out, leaving a bright trail as it flew forwards, gradually dispersing as it got further and further away from their sight. She opened her eyes again and was alarmed to see wisps of smoke floating in front of her vision. Where did that come from? Rubbing her eyes didn't help either.

Then her attention was attracted to her palms, looking slightly scorched as if she had smeared ash, but she didn't feel any pain.

"Impressive," Goku whistled, "but I think you've overdone it, Chi." He was eyeing something else nervously, and it was then when she noticed that parts of the Snake Way that curved upwards were blatantly missing.

It would seem as if she had blasted them into cinders and fallen into Hell. Whoops.

"Oh well," her husband said dismissively, "hopefully King Yemma won't notice we did it."

"How can he not notice?!" she screeched, panic forming in her at an alarming rate. "We're the only ones who use the Snake Way nowadays. And there's a huge chunk missing!"

He simply laughed and shrugged. "Whatever. I can just carry you and jump over that part."

A sweat drop formed. "That's not the point…"

"But hey, look at the bright side," he continued, ignoring her, and pointed to the distance, somewhat cleared by her. She squinted and saw a small object floating in the distance, what she guessed as King Kai's planet. Either they were still very far, or the green planet was honestly just that small. "We're really almost there!"

With a burst of speed, Goku sprinted forwards, his wife hot on his heels.

* * *

><p>"So where are we going, again?" Videl sighed as Goten whined for the umpteenth timed. For a seven year old, he certainly was a handful.<p>

"I'm not sure Goten, all your brother said was that we were going to another planet." Videl half-lied; she'd overheard what she suspected was the name of said planet, but the last thing she wanted was Goten asking anymore questions.

"Can I talk to big-brother then?" Videl paused slightly as she fished around for some kind of an excuse. Goten and herself had been given one room, that thankfully had a bed. She did her best to make sure that the boy - who for all purposes became her surrogate brother - stayed within it at all times.

It wasn't paranoia so much as a basic safety precaution. There was another man aboard the ship, one which Videl was very wary of. He clearly had a hair-pin triggered temper, and from what she had gauged when she was brave enough to attempt sensing his Ki - a rather sinister personality. Ki was like the pages of a book; if you could read a person's Ki you could read the person themself rather easily. It wasn't often that it failed to work, but it wasn't hard to get a gist of the person's personality; or at least current emotions.

He hadn't muttered more than a few sentences to her, and while she strongly disapproved of the contents within said sentences, she was more than happy to keep it that way.

At one point, Videl had thought that the gap in power between her and her teacher would be filled rather easily despite its large size. If she worked towards it with enough hard work it was achievable; however, recent events showed how truly far away she was.

The gap between her sensei and herself was not only one of raw power, but one of character and bravery. She had sat there content with babysitting his youngest as he fought in a vain attempt to avenge his wife; and soon paid the price with his life. Even worse, she still didn't do anything afterwards; she was simply paralysed. Whether it was because of fear, or because a certain voice told her it would be in her best self-interests to stay put, she wasn't sure, but nonetheless she was a useless bystander.

Had it been her father who had been murdered, as opposed to Goten's, she had no doubt that Goku would have returned the killer's sin tenfold. Hell, Goten probably would've joined in. She couldn't say the same for herself though, and while she still wouldn't call herself as selfish as some of her father's friends, she still had a lot of growing to do. She knew that much.

Goku had taken her on because of a certain fire she had in her eyes, her unwavering determination and dedication to any task, but she was too cowardly to properly use the gifts that she had bared from his teachings in battle.

Courageous was a word that many people would've used to describe Videl Satan in the past, but throughout the past few days she thought that the word cowardly would've been far more suiting. That was something Goku had taught her; to identify her own faults before working to fix them.

Despite her now-obvious character flaws, the raw gap in power between Goku and her was also humongous. She had never before felt anyone's power rise to such heights and the splitting migraine that she had attained when she attempted to reach out and sense his power had almost ripped her head in two. While the feeling faded rapidly, she had suddenly realised with a jolt that Goku had only been toying with her the entire time; every time she thought that she was catching up and almost as strong as the cheerful man, she was actually far beneath him.

That wasn't perhaps as much as a shock as it should've been as Videl had long since accepted herself as his disciple - or rather, on his insistence, student - but the realisation that Goku had been killed by some strange alien shook her to the very core. She supposed that she hadn't really ever given much thought to the possibility of intelligent alien life - sci-fi stuff wasn't exactly her domain, but it branched into a few rather... terrifying... things when she thought about it.

A random alien had come and killed Goku - one which could've been the emperor of an entire army or a mere peasant. That was the harsh reality of the situation and of course it had taken Chichi's life too, but his wife was much less of a fighter than he was.

During the days that she'd spent cooped up inside their makeshift room, or wherever there was a bit of peace of quiet, she'd had a lot of time thinking about all of that. She was stronger than the average human - she had long-since become used to that - but in the grand-scheme of things, how truly powerless was she?

Thus, she was cautious of tripping off Gohan's rather ill-tempered associate. She had heard him snap once or twice already, and if he did in front of her; she knew she would end up giving him a piece of mind before he "blasted her into oblivion." As appealing as escaping from her current imprisonment sounded, it also meant leaving Goten behind. While she wouldn't have minded getting to see Goku and Chichi again at the moment, she was almost positive that they were less than eager to reunite with their youngest in the afterlife any time soon. And if Gohan and his associate didn't eventually outright kill Goten, they were sure to change him; Gohan was evidence of that.

She still didn't know the whole story and for the moment, she really didn't care, but he'd been abducted as a child... and perhaps it was some kind of cruel irony that he had helped in abducting Goten.

That brought her to the entire issue of Gohan himself - Videl wasn't sure what to make of it or rather him, but she wanted to stay well away from the boy for the moment. He'd almost slightly warmed up towards everyone before that fateful day, but that had quickly turned around. Goten on the other hand seemed to blindly trust his older brother, and given Gohan's suddenly rigid and hostile disposition, she was a little worried. Unwavering faith in an older brother was one thing, but Videl had slight suspicions that Gohan was bi-polar or something.

At times he'd treat her like a slave, like she was worth less than the mud on his boots, and others as if they were friends. Given all that his family had done for her, Videl wouldn't have minded the latter being something that was mutual, but that really didn't look like it was going to happen.

As odd as the situation that she had found herself in was, Videl didn't have any deluded illusions that things would magically work themselves out. For now, she needed to keep herself and Goten alive... and maybe Gohan too.

Blinking suddenly, Videl realised that she must've been out of it for a long time; Goten seemed to have fallen asleep, waiting for an answer as she was lost in her thoughts. Granted, the young boy was probably out of it anyway.

Standing up, she winced as her cramped legs wavered for a brief second. Stretching her tight right one slightly, she stepped out of their allocated room and proceeded to the kitchen. Videl would've considered meditating more if not for her growling stomach - Goku had rubbed off on her.

* * *

><p>Punching the air in victory, Bulma smiled as she pressed the lone button on the dragon radar. She wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but its insides had literally fried themselves, and while she suspected that perhaps her father had been tinkering where he shouldn't have, she had wasted no time in setting to fixing it.<p>

Things had progressed nicely... well as nice as she probably could have hoped for given recent events. While things seemed to have really fallen apart soon after the deaths of Goku and Chichi, they were on a speedy recovery to getting things sorted out.

Granted, she still had no clue which quadrant of the galaxy Goten, Gohan and Videl were parading around in, things on Earth had developed rather nicely. She'd been terribly worried when Krillin didn't return from his search for Piccolo and Yamcha - who had been over at the time - hadn't really helped dissuade any of her fears. Apparently he couldn't sense either Piccolo or Krillin and at the time Bulma could only assume that was a bad thing.

If the bald-headed monk had been added to the ever-increasing death toll of her friends, Bulma knew she wouldn't have had anyone to blame except herself. In hindsight, it was a terribly stupid idea to send him after Piccolo like that. Even with the backup of Tien, which she was almost positive he hadn't taken, if the demonic alien had been training at all, the two of them would've been squashed like ants.

A little thinking really went a long way and Bulma didn't really have much else to offer other than brains and looks - most within her group weren't all too appreciative of the latter as it was. With a bit of guessing, it wasn't hard to figure out about where Piccolo stood in the grand scheme of it all. Raditz was stronger than Piccolo and Goku combined when he kidnapped Gohan and she was almost willing to bet that Gohan had long since exceeded Raditz's power on his first arrival given the show of things that he had made while facing Yamcha. Aside from Goku, the remnants of the Dragonball Gang hadn't made too many improvements in the past few years; she knew that much.

Given that logic, if Gohan was able to easily trump Yamcha, it was likely that it wouldn't have been hard for him to do the same with Krillin. So if Piccolo had managed to beat Gohan, Krillin was as good as gone...

If Piccolo hadn't managed to beat Gohan, she was almost sure that the alien had been taken his training rather seriously, especially given his track record in losing - first against Goku and then against his brother. Krillin would have at least had a lot of trouble getting out of there intact.

It was harsh and blunt; but it was true. What had she expected Krillin to do with Piccolo anyway? Had Piccolo done anything with the missing kids, they most likely would've been killed. She had a feeling that the green-skinned creature wasn't into taking prisoners.

As she fretted and worried at home, she sweet-talked Yamcha into finding Chiaotzu and Tien. Given that he could sense them, Bulma felt it safe to say that her previous assumption that Krillin hadn't taken either of them to be correct. After he extended Kami's invitation to the two of them, the trio headed up to the mystical lookout, but not before picking up Bulma.

She needed to speak with Earth's Guardian himself. There was something that she recalled from the 23rd world tournament, and while it was more of a hunch than anything; it could serve to quell her fears.

Initially having found herself confused as to how one was supposed to approach a deity, Bulma decided to take a page out of Goku's book and dive right in. She'd thought that her question would have caught the aged Piccolo look-a-like by surprise, but he simply stared at her unblinkingly and told her that both Krillin and Piccolo were fine.

To her surprise, she learned that they were training together. Of all the things that she had expected to come out of her recklessness, that certainly wasn't one of them.

Soon after the four - or five, if she counted Yajirobe, who rarely actually did anything - began training, Bulma figured it best to go and get the Dragonballs sorted. Better that she ran into any problems now than when Goku and Chichi were ready to be revived.

After convincing herself to not drag Yamcha or someone out with her for muscle, she tracked down Oolong to Kame House and enlisted his involuntary help. It also turned out that she didn't need to worry about muscle as a certain old pervert was more than overjoyed at the prospect of tagging along. While Bulma had also first initially felt guilty at leaving Puar behind, wherever she was, it soon faded as she began getting to work on restoring the dragon radar.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the radar's screen which sent out a pulse in concentric-circles and her smile quickly evolved into a large grin.

Sighing as she gripped the radar in her sweaty palms, Bulma slipped off her white lab-coat and hung it by the door as she left the mini-laboratory. As she walked towards the living room, she was a little unsurprised to see Roshi and Oolong perverted eyes glued to her rather expensive television as it showed a few young women going through overly-sexulaised aerobic poses. It was interesting to note that her mother was none-the-wiser of what was happening on the television as she offered the two a platter of home-baked cookies and cool lemonade.

Smiling slightly, Bulma walked up to grab some. A small break didn't sound like too bad an idea.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son and Son Goshen. Also expect the repetitive tone which the story has fallen into to end next chapter.<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own Dragonball.**

...

"So, we're there?" Videl asked questioningly as she leaned against the wall of the command room. It had been roughly two and a half months since they had _departed_ from Earth by her estimates, and things weren't looking as bleak as they once had been.

Gohan had started talking a little more to Goten, and suddenly the young boy wasn't locked in the confines of their shared room any longer. She was a different story but then again, she never had really abided by the unspoken rules that had been laid out in front of them.

"Not yet. We're only just nearing its orbit, however if we keep going at our current speed we should arrive within half an hour," Gohan spoke calmly.

If there was one thing which she had learned during their little trip, it was that the spiky haired man - Vegeta, according to Goten - was a horrible influence on him. Gohan was almost like an entire other person in his presence, and his entire demeanour changed at the mere mention of the man.

That wasn't to say the half-Saiyan was nice otherwise though; she'd discovered the hard way that he wasn't a kind person. It occurred to her that he was likely suffering from the loss of his parents, although he didn't exactly show it. His entire attitude was infuriating, but no more than the fact that she hadn't known him before the deaths of his parents.

Hell, he had only known them for a few days himself... but nevertheless she couldn't tell if he was just an asshole by nature or if he was attempting to shut her away because he saw her as some kind of a link to his late parents.

"Wouldn't it make sense to slow down then? The locals or whatever could always sense us coming and they might not take to our arrival too well."

"Namekians are far too primitive to sense us coming and they hardly pose a threat to us anyway," he said with a sophisticated tone to his voice. Oddly enough, he didn't sound half as bloodthirsty as he normally did. More like a scholar, but given their current situation a tactician sounded more like it.

Videl almost opened her mouth before hesitating. It was possible that Namekians could naturally sense Ki signatures, much like humans could after honing in their abilities but given the fact that Gohan referred to them as primitive she doubted it.

"So how does this work?" Videl asked inquisitively. "I've never been in space before, so I don't know how to land... it's probably similar to my jet-copter right?"

She received no response save for an irritated scowl. Taking that as her sign to leave, the young girl promptly walked out of the command room; Goten had probably gotten himself into some form of trouble anyway.

Sighing as she walked through the corridor of the spaceship that she had become so very accustomed to over the last few months, she paused for a brief second to gather herself. She had been forcibly taken along - no, kidnapped - to babysit Goten. All the abuse she had experienced, all the grief she'd been through... it all boiled down to what would happen next. Gohan was searching for someone on Planet Namek and she had reason to suspect that it was one of their locals. Come to think of it, it was entirely possible that the bounty hunter who had killed Goku and Chichi had also been a Namekian.

A Namekian who had tried to kill off the rest of a very much-nearly extinct race... if her gut feeling was right, she was about the witness the mass genocide of an alien race.

_'Value your enemies life as you do your own and love it like you love the life of your loved ones. With immense power comes immense responsibility, so make sure that you don't go abusing it.'_

She grimaced as she remembered her teacher's words. The first sentence didn't really sound like something that Goku would normally say, so she suspected it was something that had been passed down to her from his own teacher, but the second one had his name written all over it.

She knew that if it came down to it... she was going to have to kill anyone who opposed her and their little group. If she didn't, she was almost positive that the two elder Saiyans would kill her for not doing so. While she hadn't necessarily taken Goku's lesson to heart - why would she ever have to kill anyone? - it was difficult knowing that she would have to betray his teachings.

He really was the best teacher she had ever had, the tutors that her father had hired were no contest, so while she knew she'd have to go against what she was taught it hurt a little inside to_ betray_ what such kind man had taught her. She just hoped that he would forgive her when they met in the afterlife. If not, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to live- even while dead - with the guilt.

Suddenly a loud, high-pitched wailing sound echoed throughout the aircraft, snapping Videl from her thoughts.

**"Warning! Warning! Warning! Security breach! Code 074E in area 8D!"**

A security breach...? That meant one of two things; either one of three idiots on board the ship touched something they shouldn't have, or they were being invaded.

Whatever the case was, she needed to grab Goten and get to safety as quickly as possible. The damn kid was sure to get himself in trouble, knowing his insanely high level of curiosity. Videl swore violently as she broke into a sprint, stretching several strained muscles from various exercises that had served to keep her in shape.

She noticed the corridor was suddenly eerily quiet, almost as though a living soul hadn't walked through it in centuries. It wasn't that it was frightening or anything... just empty.

She had half a mind to turn back to Gohan and see if he had any answers, but given that she had no idea what area '8D' was, it was probably safest to stay where she was - where she couldn't hear anything except for the occasional sound of her heavy breaths.

Their room wasn't too much further anyway, despite it conveniently being the furthest away from the command room, so she hoped that she would find Goten there by some odd stroke of luck. It would be a royal pain to march all the way to the kitchen while keeping an eye out for potential intruders.

Holding her breath, Videl slowed down to a quiet tip-toe as her eyes flashed through the area in front of her, darting from every corner to dark spot. These Namekians sounded like they weren't too strong, but then again that was _Gohan _talking, the crazy half-alien who could blast through a bus without breaking a sweat.

They were 'primitive' which either meant that they weren't too technologically advanced or that they were a race of brutes - ones which hadn't quite evolved like the rest of them had. Brutes she could handle, and probably outrun given that they were usually stupid and slow, but she wasn't too sure about the other option. Nevertheless, Videl found herself praying quietly that the intruders were as far away from her as possible. Or better yet, that there weren't any aboard the ship and that it was a false alarm.

Sighing, she attempted to relax herself as she reached the the last door in the rather large corridor. It was her room, and hopefully the only sentient being within it would be an eight-year old boy who still wanted nothing more than to cuddle up to his mother once more.

Figuring that it was now or never, she turned the icy-cold metal doorknob with an air of cautiousness about her. Peering inside the relatively small room, she found a lone figure standing by the bed. At first the spiky-hair scared her a little before she remembered the ridiculous gravity-defying hair that carried itself on the young boy's head.

He wasn't sleeping, but he was breathtakingly still. She couldn't see all that much from where she was, but it looked as though his arms were pressing his knees against his chest. He was curled up in plain sight, but at least his back was towards the wall.

A nervous feeling overcame Videl as she slowly stepped closer towards the young boy. Perhaps the Namekians had already been through the area, and dealt with him... Perha- she shook her head in an attempt to prevent her mind from wandering any further.

With luck, he would be completely fine, if just a little shaken. If anything had really happened to the little guy she knew that she wouldn't have been able to forgive herself...

"... Goten? Are you alright, buddy?" she asked slowly, making sure to sugar-coat her voice and hopefully reassure him a little.

"S-stay away for me!" Goten yelled in an attempt to get her to back off, the terrified undertone to his voice making it clear that he wasn't thinking completely straight.

"Ssshh," she cooed as she dared to take a step closer. "It's alright Goten, it's me, Videl. Now don't be too loud or they might hear us, and come looking for us."

The child turned around somewhat fearfully before hesitating slightly. "Oh... it's you! I sensed a Ki coming, and you had me scared for a bit there."

Videl resisted the temptation to snack her forehead - a Ki check, why didn't she think of that? - as she grinned at the boy's sudden change in attitude. He definitely took after his father, alright.

"Yeah, there are a couple of guys on the ship... I'm not exactly sure why, but they had something to do with that siren you heard a little while ago. It's probably a good idea if we just stay in here and hide this one out, okay?" Videl sighed. She hated hiding, she really did, it went against her upbringing, but there wasn't much that she could do at the moment.

"But they're not even that strong! I could totally take 'em!" Goten exclaimed as he threw his arms up in protest.

Stretching as she reached her own Ki senses out for the first time in a while, Videl shuddered slightly. It was still pretty unnerving to think of the difference in power between herself and the younger boy sitting next to her... the weakest guy that she could feel was at least twenty times stronger than her. If all the Namekians were that strong... she was going to have a really tough time.

"Then why were you hiding?" She chuckled slightly, hoping that the slight reminder of the fear the young boy had been feeling a little while ago would be enough to convince him to stay put.

"I wasn't hiding!" he yelled childishly, as he stuck his tongue out. "I... was just looking for something under the bed."

"Sure you were," she grinned as she brought her index finger up to her mouth, gesturing for the younger boy to quieten down. "But anyway, we need to be careful here Goten. These are aliens that we're dealing with, they could have special powers that we've never heard of before-"

"So what, we can shoot Ki beams from our hands!"

She grimaced. "-or the technology that killed your father."

As a shocked look overcame Goten's face, she realised that in hindsight she probably shouldn't have said it. All of the boy's innocence seemed to shatter as he looked up at her and nodded.

"We should probably suppress out Ki signatures too, that way they won't be able to find us."

Wordlessly, the pig-tailed girl nodded as she motioned for Goten to hide in the closet. If the bedroom was small, then the closet was minuscule with barely just enough headroom for a grown man to stand and barely enough standing room for just one person to fit in. Thankfully, her height came in handy as she was nowhere near as tall as a decently tall man would be, and after they huddled up really close, the two of them managed to get the door shut.

"... I've got to pee."

...

Gohan growled as he fumbled around with the controls of the ship, finally managing to get the alarm to turn off. The damned thing was too loud from where he was, and while he found himself somewhat impressed with the humans' ability to get the alarm to vocalise the location of the 'security breach,' he really couldn't care less. It was less than helpful, he had no idea where in the hell area 8D was, and it let whatever intruders that were aboard the ship know that everyone was now aware of their presence.

If there weren't any intruders, he was going to make whoever or whatever was responsible for the triggering of the alarm pay. Even if it meant turning the damn ship around and going to find the pesky humans that made it. He hadn't slept in about twenty hours and some false alarm was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

Cursing as he stood up from the pilot chair, he quickly left the control room as he now realised that Vegeta had the only scouter on the ship. The prince hadn't been kind enough so as to bring him a scouter, and Gohan hadn't been stupid enough to ask to borrow his.

While he really just wanted to blast a hole in a wall and let one of the intruders come to him, he knew that it would be much more rational to go and find Vegeta and then sneak up on the aliens - Saiyan pride wasn't worth suffocating in the vacuum of space, especially not over a bunch of intruders. All that though, did nothing to help calm the urge.

Vegeta's room was usually where he would be. He'd evidently decided to leave control of the ship and the two "Earth brats" to Gohan, but he didn't expect to find the proud man there. No, he would be rushing headfirst into the danger.

The problem though was that Gohan didn't know where the danger was, so it was either staying stationary and waiting until he heard a loud explosion or hoping that he'd run into either Vegeta or the intruders. He wasn't complaining either way.

Gohan had half a mind to try and find Goten and the Earth girl as well, but that wasn't exactly on top his priority list at the moment. The girl was a coward with a hairpin trigger of a mouth, and he had no doubt that she'd heard the alarm so she was probably hiding somewhere. And he was confident that Goten could hold his own, he wasn't bad for an eight year old but that didn't stop him from walking a little faster.

Something told him that the kitchen was his best bet, the wall was made of some kind of transparent material. Frieza's army wasn't unaccustomed to such materials, they were quite common but useless too. It was likely that the material was glass, a material that provided almost completely accurate transparency with no real sturdiness or strength. It figured that these humans were stupid enough to fit the exterior walls of a spaceship with glass anyway.

...

**Author's Notes: While it's not the longest chapter this fic has seen, I thought it appropriate to end it here. This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son.**

**Please let us know what you thought by leaving us a review.**


	19. Chapter 19

**This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son and DevilsDoCry. We apologise for the long wait between this one and the last one.**

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own Dragon Ball Z.**

...

Vegeta's eyes darted through the room before he swiftly took a few steps forward, the scouter on his eye beeping loudly as he carefully approached the power levels in front of him. Judging by the amount of distance between them according to the scouter and incessant wailing of the emergency siren, their gatecrashers were either in the next room or the one after that.

A glance at the scouter hanging on his right eye indicated that the power levels of the four intruders were small. Very, very small, as in he was sure that even the girl aboard their ship would be able to take them. It was likely that they were a bunch of Namekian idiots who decided to smash into the ship through brute force as opposed to requesting to board the ship through conventional methods, but it wasn't as though he would've let them do the latter either.

Tempted as he was to simply blast everything that was about a hundred metres in front of him and be on his way, he was fully aware that doing so would expose himself to the vacuum of space. The oxygen that the ship provided wouldn't help against all the emptiness of space, so he needed to proceed very carefully. In fact, it was possible that they were hoping to lure him out and force him to suffocate in outer space.

It made a lot of sense actually since they were weak, pathetically so, that they would resort to such cowardly tactics. It was actually infuriating that such weaklings could potentially do that, he had worked long and hard for his power while they hadn't. If he were to die at their hands because of a simple trick he wasn't sure how exactly he would take out his anger but he would be _furious_. At the same time though, Vegeta couldn't help but appreciate the tactical side of it - something like that would be a dishonourable move, no doubt, but it was near genius when you were overpowered. After all, survival of the fittest wasn't solely based on brute strength, or many of the weaker races would've fallen out of existence centuries ago.

Slowly approaching the door, Vegeta's body tensed as he prepared for whatever would be on the other side. The door opened automatically as it sensed his presence but Vegeta didn't immediately walk through it; instead he inspected the room in front of him with a the eye of a seasoned warrior.

Darkness shrouded the room, it was unlit, but he couldn't see a breach in the walls of the room so he tapped the scouter that covered his eye like a monocle. Satisfied that they weren't in the room in front of him as it said that there weren't any power levels close to him, he proceeded to walk through the room as his body relaxed slightly.

As he took a few steps forwards, his eye instantly caught onto a thin beam of pink Ki tearing through the air as it travelled towards him. The beam illuminated the room for a split second, time enough for whoever launched the beam to see who he was firing at and time enough to realise he had missed his mark. Vegeta retreated back into the darkness of the room, hoping to hide and observe his assailant. Pressing the button on the side of his scouter Vegeta assessed its power level, a measly 1352. Weak enough for himself and the runt to easily deal with, but with that Earthling girl and the other half breed aboard, it was another matter. Vegeta inwardly cursed, he had yet to upgrade to the newer scouter before Frieza's betrayal. The newer models could tell what species the combatant was and if they had any particular traits. Vegeta remembered most of the races that Frieza had working for him, knowing what species these intruders were would be an advantage to him.

Vegeta noticed that his assailant had not followed him into the large space. He too was waiting, observing for just the right moment to strike out at Vegeta. Vegeta could barely make out that the creature was not wearing a scouter yet it did not possess the giveaway Namekian antennae either. That only narrowed it down to a few other suspects; it couldn't be raiders as they didn't possess the tech or the balls to go after spacecraft. Frieza's men would be better equipped and not so eager to fire off Ki blasts without knowing who would be firing back, so that only left bounty hunters.

But for them to attack this soon after the last attempt? And according to the brat, the hunter never so much as brought comm gear with him. All he brought was a negator and a bad smell. Reaching out behind him Vegeta felt for anything he could throw, his hand steadily and smoothly fanning the floor so to not draw any unneeded attention. Vegeta's fingers brushed against what felt like a tin can. After curling his fingers around it, he flung it against the furthest wall with little hesitation. As the can made contact the assailant fired off another Ki blast, the short flash of energy bathing the attacker in a radiant glow and showing his features. A slender humanoid, its deep blue mottled skin contrasting harshly against the bright red armour it wore, bearing the crest of Frieza upon it's left breast.

_'So Frieza's men think they have us cornered, do they? The lizard must have had that bug of a bounty hunter put a tracer on the kid. No wonder they were able to track us,'_ thought Vegeta with a slight frown. At least Namek wasn't a far distance away; they weren't as helpless as they might have been if the tyrant's men had caught them a little earlier in the empty vacuum of space.

Reaching out again for an object to throw, Vegeta's hand wrapped around a broken chair leg. _'He must have already been searching through this room when I walked in.'_ Arching the leg just over the intruder's head, Vegeta waited for his opportunity. As the leg clattered just behind it, the intruder wheeled around and fired a blast off again.

_'Now!'_ Vegeta darted behind the humanoid and planted a fist through its torso with practiced ease, the creature only managing to let loose a slight wail before its mouth was covered by Vegeta's gloved hand.

"Now let's have a feel around and play a little guessing game," Vegeta said, starting to prod around inside the intruders body as it continued to try and scream in agony.

"A set of lungs, rules out a sandosian, kidneys, liver, intestines, hmm this is odd," said Vegeta continuing to intrude deeper into the creatures body, "no stomach, so a polarion then. What is a back water creature like yourself doing in the North Galaxy?" questioned Vegeta.

Polarions were a scavenger race from deep within the East Galaxy, where Frieza had just started to extend his grip into farther depths of space. Securing their planet, and by proxy their people, was one of the half pint's first solo missions that Frieza had personally overseen. The Polarion's breath was becoming more haggard within Vegeta's grasp. Its attempts at screaming had already ceased as purple blood oozed out of the entry wound where Vegeta's fist was firmly placed.

…

"Can't you just hold on for a bit?" Videl asked incredulously. Of all times for Goten to need to go and take a leak, he just had to choose when a security breach had occurred not ten minutes prior.

"N-No," he squirmed slightly as he grabbed the waistband of his pants. "I r-really need to go."

Videl sighed slightly as her mind raced to lay out the options she had in front of her. The worst but most safe one would be to have him try and go in one of the corners of the tight closet they were in and then just pray that she didn't have the misfortune of stepping in the puddle he would make. However, given that it was possible that they could find themselves hiding from the aliens - Namekians if her hunch was right - for hours on end, she wasn't sure if she would be able to deal with the stench. That and it just sounded gross.

The closest of the two toilets on the ship was not too far down the hallway from them and it wouldn't exactly be too hard to get over there. What she was worried about though was the racket that they would almost certainly make, no matter how sneaky she ordered Goten to be. From there, all it would take would be a wrong move or two and they'd find themselves up against these Namekians.

She grit her teeth, her frustration only amplifying when she felt the overgrown toddler of a boy do a slight jig to demonstrate the urgency. Videl attempted to pinpoint the rough location that the Ki was coming from but it was to no avail as she found that her sensory abilities were still not honed to that specific level. The rough direction seemed to be in the opposite direction from the toilet - she couldn't really get a feel as to how close or how far - but that didn't help her much.

"Hey Goten?" she asked of the boy gently, "Think you could do me a favour?"

While she was still new to the whole Ki thing, Goten certainly wasn't.

"S-Sure, but I-I don't think I can hold it for m-much longer," said the child.

"Do you think you can tell me where the bad guys are? I promise you that you can go to the toilet once we figure out where they are," said Videl as she tried to massage her temples but found that she couldn't raise her arms that high in the cramped wardrobe.

"N-Near the place with a-all the boxes," his voice seemed to be getting very desperate. "Can I go now?"

_'So the cargo bay, then,'_ Videl's eyebrows narrowed slightly. There had been a lot of useless junk in that place when they first ran into it. Most of it was scientific things that the astronauts were no doubt planning on using before the spaceship had been stolen. "Alright Goten, we're going to move and move very quickly. In fact, we're going to play a little game… whoever's the quietest for the whole time that we're out of this closet is going to win."

Even though they were in a dark place and she couldn't really see them, she could tell that Goten's eyes had lit up at the prospect of winning a competition. She wriggled around her teacher's son before managing to push the door open and silently ushering him out. It would be a grand overstatement to say that light filled her eyes, but her vision was now clear enough to make out her surroundings. She almost made for a nearby lightswitch before realising that it wasn't necessary and could have bad consequences if it were to somehow attract anyone else - whilst Goten said they were on the other side of the ship near the cargo bay, he was an eight year old at the end of the day.

Videl gestured for the boy to follow him, bringing a finger to her lips just to remind the excitable child of the 'game' that they were playing. The pair creeped along the length of the room, trying to keep their noise to a minimum as even the soft padding sound of footsteps on metal seemed to echo around the empty ship. Videl walked in front of Goten, keeping him a few paces behind her so she could properly survey their surroundings. As they approached the archway entrance to the room, Videl craned her neck around the corner to see down the deserted hall. All the lights had been shut off, and only the gentle hum of the ship's engines seemed to emit any noise. Urging for Goten to follow her, they made their way across the hall to the lightless bathroom, pushing the door only slightly ajar so that the pair of them could squeeze through the doorway.

"I can't go if someone's looking!" exclaimed Goten grasping clumsily at the hem of his pants as he gestured towards the girl.

"I'm not looking Goten, I'll be keeping watch outside the door just make it quick already," said Videl exasperatedly as she turned around and peeked her head out the door.

The soft crumpling of fabric being pulled down and the slow rhythmic tinkling of liquid on metal was all the answer Videl received. Even though Videl was watching the halls there were no signs of anyone approaching, just the same rhythmic hum of the engines. Goten shuddered as he finished, pulling his pants back up and tieing them. As Goten turned round to face Videl, she couldn't really understand why he was so pale.

"Goten? What's wrong?" asked Videl worriedly.

"A bad Ki, I can sense it in the hall it's coming this way," Goten whispered.

Videl's fears were confirmed as she quickly peaked outside the bathroom door again; a figure was moving around the hall inspecting each room. Videl could feel the heat rush to her face as a clammy sweat broke out, and the feeling of dread bunch up in her stomach.

"Goten can you be more specific, what makes this Ki so bad?" asked Videl, her voice lowered to a hushed whisper.

"It's... angry and... no, it's just angry, I can't feel anything else coming from it... sorry," said Goten as he screwed up his face apologetically.

Videl could see the figure moving closer and closer to where they were hiding, she could feel the waves of emotions starting to flood over her. '_I don't want to die here… not when I still have so much to do, so much to learn. Gah, I can't lose control of myself… not while Goten is here, he is counting on me to keep a level head.' _ Videl noticed a small alcove next to the door where she and Goten could hide. Grabbing the eight year old by the arm, Videl tugged Goten into the alcove. Pressing a finger to her lips, Videl panickedly motioned for the boy to be quiet.

The pair of them both heard the door sliding open ever so carefully, almost painfully slow. In stepped what Videl assumed was one of the intruders, its facial features resembling that of a koi fish from earth. Two fleshy mandibles hung from a low drooping jaw line and its tiny black eyes seemed to be on a constant swivel, forever examining their surroundings. On the creature's arm was what looked like a shotgun to Videl, sawed down and made to fit over the users arm; the bright white material it was made from made it look almost like a toy. It wore armour of the same white colour except for a small crest on the left breast plate.

"I can smell you Earthling, your fear is positively palpable," snorted the creature in a shrill tone, its beady eyes nearly swiveling out of their sockets.

"Yes it is a distinct mus-" the creature almost licked its lips before it was cut off.

"Tut tut, did you forget who you were looking for fish face. What do I smell like?" questioned Gohan as he appeared behind their would-be assailant, grabbing the creature by the skull.

"Nyargh, Gohan we were becoming worried... you haven't reported back in a while, yarggh!" screamed the creature as Gohan continued to tighten his grip.

From where she was sitting, Videl's eyes widened in relief. Those few moments where she had watched the creature slowly step towards them had been gut-wrenching, but thankfully they were safe now. Seeing that Gohan's grip on the creature didn't look like it was going to cease anytime soon, the girl hurriedly covered the eyes of her teacher's youngest son. He didn't need to see what was about to happen.

"Never were very bright, were you Kui? I already know Frieza wants my head, but I think I might send him yours instead... you always were one of his favourites," said Gohan as he buried his fingers into Kui's skull and began to tug.

"Please Gohan it was a mista.." Kui managed to stammer out before Gohan removed his head from his spinal column.

…

_'Well there goes one source of information,'_ thought Vegeta as he removed his fist from the lifeless carcass of the Polarion. Pressing the button on the side of his scouter, Vegeta noticed that another of the power levels had disappeared and after cycling back through the scouter's reading memory it looked like the strongest of the group had been dealt with. Which only left one which was skulking around the cockpit, possibly looking to sabotage the flight controls. _'It will make no difference, they blew a hole in the cargo hold. It's a miracle this crate is still managing to fly,' _Vegeta thought,the humming of the engine was evidence enough of that, _'these earthlings are clever for weaklings, maybe next time I'm on Earth I can kidnap a few.'_ The sound of boot on metal echoed off the craft's empty halls as Vegeta continued to follow the reading from his scouter. Whatever the intruder was doing, it was reluctant to move from the cockpit so something felt off. _'Frieza's men aren't smart enough to set traps, and they couldn't be searching for something… so what could he be doing?'_ The cockpit was one of the few areas of the ship that was illuminated, but that did not stop Vegeta from being surprised as he noticed that a rotund shadow was being cast against the opposing wall as he approached the entrance.

"Ah Vegeta, so you have willingly come to meet your maker. It would not look well if you were to skulk behind walls while trembling in though you are a Saiyan you are still one of Lord Frieza's elite," the shadow mocked.

"Dodoria, wasn't your last order to shift some weight? It is an irksome sight to see a warrior squeeze into a piece of battle armour, but it is even more irksome that a flabby pile of pink sludge like yourself is even allowed to call yourself a fighter!" snarled Vegeta, entering the cockpit. "How were you able to stay hidden from the scouter? It's reading you at a solid 1000!" exclaimed Vegeta, his eyebrow raised in surprise as the banter between him and Frieza's lackey was momentarily forgotten.

"Well since you're about to die, I suppose I can reveal that little secret," said Dodoria holding up his hand, revealing a ring on his middle finger. "Just like the negators, these suppression rings use an electrical field to confuse the scouters whenever we're being scanned. They can't take an accurate reading while I am wearing this," Dodoria proudly exclaimed.

"And here I was thinking that you really were just a pathetic weakling," smirked Vegeta as he cracked his knuckles with practised ease.

"Enough of the insults Vegeta, your head's worth a lot of money and I intend to collect!" shouted Dodoria as he flung himself head first at Vegeta, intent on getting the inevitable bounty as well as making him pay for years of smug and disrespectful talk.

Shifting his left leg forward, Vegeta delivered a devastating axe kick to the outstretched head of the on-rushing Dodoria. When Vegeta connected the base of Dodoria's skull gave way to his heel and sent the pink blob straight to the floor,Dodoria crumpled to the floor in agony,tightly clutching at his skull. Dodoria's breath hitched as a river of purple blood was coursing from the back of his skull.

"So sorry to disappoint Dodoria, but while you've been cosying up with Frieza and eating yourself large, I've been on the run having to fight do-or-die battles. You know what they say about Saiyans, we become stronger through surviving and that's certainly been my main concern through these long months. Do you have a last message for Frieza before you depart?" asked Vegeta as he toyed with the pink alien, a smirk forming on his face that fit him like a glove.

"Yes tell him... they're all dead!" screamed Dodoria jumping off of the floor and firing a pink Ki-beam from his mouth.

_'Pitiful,'_ thought Vegeta as he caught the beam in one gloved hand, and sent it back accompanied by a Ki blast of his own. The purple and pink energies crackled and pulsed as they merged together before continuing in the purple one's direction. Dodoria's eyes turned white as the blast engulfed his mouth and shot straight through his skull, causing the headless torso to sizzle and crackle at the neck twitching before falling to the ground. The low white glow of the lighting once again resumed, a siren accompanied by the flashing red of an alert status like before.

**"Warning control malfunction, warning control malfunction. Emergency landing procedure engaged, necessary mayday sounded. Warning control malfunction,"** said the on-board computer in its monotonous simulated voice.

Vegeta had failed to realise where his blast had ended up after deep frying Dodoria's skull; where the touch control had been was now a mess of twisted and gnarled metal and frayed sparking wiring.

_'Fuck.'_

…

**Hope you enjoyed. Please review.**


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